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CORNELL 

UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 


BOUGHT  WITH  THE  INCOME 
OF  THE  SAGE  ENDOWMENT 
FUND     GIVEN     IN     1891     BY 

HENRY  WILLIAMS  SAGE 


The  original  of  tliis  bool<  is  in 
tine  Cornell  University  Library. 

There  are  no  known  copyright  restrictions  in 
the  United  States  on  the  use  of  the  text. 


http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924025959390 


Limited  Letterpress  Edition. 
Type  distributed  after  printing. 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND 


A  COLQNIAL  S|TUDY 


BY 
MARTHA   BOCKEE   FLINT 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK  LONDON 

27  WEST  TWENTV-THIED  STEEET  24  BEDFORD  STREET,  STRAND 

S^e  ^mchnfaachti  '§um 
1896 


Copyright,  i8g6 

BY 

MARTHA  BOCK^E  FLINT 
Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 


Ube  Iftnfcfierboclter  ^tese,  IFlew  1ftocbeUe»  m*  £;, 


To 
EMMA  BUCKNER,  OF  KENTUCKY, 

THE  author's  best  INSPIRATION, 
THIS  BOOK   IS   DEDICATED. 


NOTE. 


The  writer  has  not  encumbered  the  narrative 
with  constant  mention  of  authorities,  or  with  the 
acknowledgment  of  her  great  debt  to  earlier  writers. 
The  books  chiefly  consulted  are  named  in  an 
appendix.  As  far  as  possible  facts  have  been  taken 
from  original  sources.  All  others  have  been  care- 
fully verified. 

M.  B.  F. 

Amenia, 
Dutchess  County,  New  York, 
September,  iSgS- 


To  THE  Reader: 

"  Here  thou  mayest  in  two  or  three  hours  travaile 
over  a  few  leaves  and  see  and  know  what  cost  him 
that  writ  it,  yeares  and  travaile  over  sea  and  land 
before  he  knew  it." 

William  Wood 
New-England' s  Prospect  (1634). 


CONTENTS. 


I. 

Early  Explorers  and  Claimants 

II. 
The  Land     


III. 
The  Indians  on  Long  Island    . 

IV. 
A  Study  of  Names      .... 

V. 
The  Five  Dutch  Towns     . 

VI. 

Lady  Moody's  Plantation 

VII. 
The  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire 

VIII. 

The  Stamford  Migration  . 

vii 


PAGE 

I 


i8 


45 


60 


76 


104 


116 


124 


vm  CONTENTS. 

IX. 

PAGE 

Other  Queens  County  Towns  .        .        .162 

X. 
Lion  Gardiner 216 

XI. 
The  Connecticut  Towns 224 

XII. 
Dutch  and  English  Claims  to  Long   Island.     261 

XIII. 
The  English  Conquest 293 

XIV. 
Nassau  in  the  Eighteenth  Century       .        .     326 

XV. 

Protests   against    Rebellion  ;     the  Opening 

War         .  339 

XVI. 
The  Battle  of  Brooklyn  .....     385 

XVII. 

Progress  of  the  War 411 

XVIII. 
Negotiations  for  Peace 456 

XIX. 
The  Loyalists 473 

XX. 
Expatriation  :  A  New  Home    ....     488 


CONTENTS.  IX 

APPENDIX. 


PAGE 


1. 

The  Hempstead  Resolutions     ....     499 

II. 
Articles  of  Association     .....     502 

III. 
Declaration  of  the  Howes       ....     505 

IV. 
The  Queens  County  Addressers      .        .        .     507 

V. 
The  Kings  County  Addressers         .        .        .    525 

VI. 
List  of  Books  Consulted 530 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


I. 


EARLY  EXPLORERS  AND  CLAIMANTS. 


WITHIN  the  cabin  of  his  storm-worn  ship,  an- 
chored off  the  old  seaport  town  of  Dieppe, 
a  returned  navigator,  in  the  midsummer  of 
1524,'  addressed  to  the  most  picturesque  of  French 
kings,  a  "  Relation  "  in  which  is  the  first  authentic 
mention  in  history  of  Long  Island." 

Recent  criticism  has  sought  to  doubt  the  authen- 
ticity of  this  letter  of  Verrazano,  sent  to  the  Court  at 
Avignon,  and  preserved  to  us  in  a  contemporary 
copy.  But  while  its  genuineness  has  been  well 
established,  it  is  also,  whether  in  the  stately  Italian 
of  its  writer,  or  in  the  quaint  translation  of  Hakluyt, 

'  July  8th. 

'  The  Saga  Torfinn  tells  us  that  the  summer  of  10O3  was  spent 
by  Thorwald  in  exploration  southward  from  Leifs  Budir  (booths), 
and  that  he  found  a  great  island  lying  west  and  east,  which  could  be 
no  other  than  Long  Island. — Payne's  History  of  America,  p.  82. 


2  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

a  curious  document  full  of  convincing  vitality  and 
rare  intelligence. 

As  the  great  Florentine,  sailing  for  the  "  discove- 
rie  of  Cathay,"  directed  his  course  northward  from 
that  land  of  "  Bayes  and  Palmes "  which  was  the 
southern  limit  of  his  voyage,  it  is  not  hard  to  fol- 
low his  track,  until  passing  Sandy  Hook,'  La  Dau- 
phine  dropped  anchor  near  the  Narrows.  A  boat 
was  then  sent  within  to  "  a  most  beautiful  lake,"  a 
pleasant  place  situate  among  certain  little  steepe 
hills,"  from  amidst  which  there  ran  down  to  the  sea 
an  exceeding  great  stream."  '  There  their  boat  was 
the  lodestone  which  drew  from  every  lurking-place 
along  the  shores  of  the  bay,  thirty  light  canoes  filled 
with  "  innumerable  people  of  the  country,"  who, 
with  the  eager  curiosity  of  the  savage  man,  were 
"  continually  passing  from  shore  to  shore."  The 
narrative  goes  on  : 

"  Forced  to  leave  this  land  for  our  great  discon- 
tentment, for  the  great  commoditie  and  pleasant- 
nesse  thereof,  which  we  suppose  is  not  without  some 
riches — for  all  the  hills  show  mineral  matter  therein 

'  Verrazano  named  it  Capo  da  Santa  Maria.  It  is  so  marked  on 
MaijoUa's  map,  Venice,  1527,  where  the  bay  is  called  Angouleme,  a 
name  probably  given  by  Verrazano  in  honour  of  Francis.  In  Ri- 
biero's  chart  of  1529  it  is  the  "  B.  de  S.  Xpoal,"  the  Upper  Bay,  B. 
de  San  Antonio,  and  the  region  about  Sandy  Ilook,  Cabo  de  Arenas, 
is  called  "  Tierra  de  Estevan  Gomez"  in  recognition  of  the  Portu- 
guese sailor's  landfall  in  1525.  Alonzo  Chauves,  1536,  calls  Sandy 
Hook  C.  Santiago.  On  the  copper  globe  of  Ulpius,  1542  (New  York 
Historical  Society),  the  bay  is  called  the  Gulf  of  St.  Germaine. 

»  "Unbellissimolago." 

'  "  Infra  piccoli  colli  eminente." 

■•  "  Una  grandissima  riviera," 


FRENCH  INDIFFERENCE  3 

— we  weighed  anker  and  sailed  toward  the  East- 
ward, for  so  the  coast  trended,  and  so  alwaies  for 
fifty  leagues  being  in  sight  thereof." 

Passing  Long  Island,  the  Manisees '  was  next  dis- 
covered, which  Verrazano  named  Luisa,"  for  his 
"  Majesty's  illustrious  mother,"  the  meddlesome 
Duchess  of  Savoy.  Thence  they  sailed  into  Nar- 
ragansett  Bay,  and  there  is  no  further  mention  of 
Long  Island. 

Nearly  a  century  passed,  and  the  visit  of  the 
strange  winged  canoe,  from  whose  mast  fluttered 
the  ensign  emblazoned  with  the  lilies  the  Angel 
brought  to  Clovis,  had  become  a  mere  tradition 
to  the  awed  and  admiring  Indians.  Francis,  de- 
feated in  Italy,  fretting  in  a  Spanish  prison,  and 
harassed  at  home  by  unceasing  cabals,  had  little 
leisure  to  continue  the  discoveries  of  Verrazano,  or 
to  secure  his  title  to  the  lands  to  which  he  thus  laid 
claim.  Nor,  through  the  succeeding  reigns  of  the 
House  of  Valois-Orleans,  was  there  time  for  aught 
but  religious  persecution,  political  strife,  and  Court 
intrigues.  Meanwhile,  there  was  growing  up  a  new 
power — the  only  heroic  race  ever  developed  in  a  fiat 
country.  The  young  Dutch  Republic,  thoroughly 
on  its  feet,  was  not  lacking  in  the  adventurous  spirit 
of  the  age,  nor  slow  to  seek  for  itself  the  golden 

'  Block  Island,  Adrian's  Eylandt  on  the  early  Dutch  maps  ;  later, 
New  Shoreham,  "  Shor'um,"  so  named  in  the  charter  from  the 
Rhode  Island  Association  in  1672. 

''  It  so  appears  on  some  of  the  earliest  maps,  notably  that  of  the 
explorer's  brother,  Hieronimo  da  Verrazano,  published  in  1529.  The 
constant  quarrels  between  mother  and  son,  probably  explain  the  later 
and  more  frequent  use  of  Claudia,  the  name  of  Francis's  wife. 


4  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

route  to  the  Indies,  and  to  extend  its  narrow,  sea- 
won  domain  by  acquisitions  in  a  new  world. 

So  it  came  to  pass,  that  in  1609,  the  brilliant  sun  of 
a  September  day  shone  upon  the  historic  Halve- 
Maen '  passing  Sandy  Hook  to  the  northward.  Just 
five  months  before,  the  glad  bells  of  Antwerp  silent 
through  many  a  year  of  gloom,  rang  out  the  truce 
by  which,  in  the  old  Town  Hall,  Philip  virtually 
acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  United  Neth- 
erlands. Consequent  thereon,  in  July,  1609,  Sieur 
de  Schoonwalle  was  received  in  England  as  the  am- 
bassador of  "  a  free  state."  The  Dutch  were  recog- 
nised as  an  independent  people  at  the  time  of 
Hudson's  voyage,  and  hence  their  right  by  his  dis- 
covery to  the  territory, known  as  New  Netherland. 

Hudson  at  once  noted,  as  possible  openings  to 
the  long-sought  western  passage,  the  three  "  great 
rivers "  entering  the  Lower  Bay,  afterward  put 
down  on  De  Laet's  map  of  1630.  Attempting  to 
enter  the  "  Northermost,"  which  was  the  Rockaway 
inlet  to  Jamaica  Bay,  he  was  deterred  by  the  bar 
and  the  shallow  water,  and  turned  toward  the  Nar- 
rows. In  the  Log-Book  written  by  his  mate,  Robert 
Juett,  of  Lime  House,  is  this  entry  for  Septem- 
ber 3d : 

"  So  wee  weighed  anchor  and  went  in  and  rode  in 
five  fathoms  oze  ground,  and  saw  many  Salmons " 
and  Mullets  and  Rayes  very  great.  The  Height  is 
40  degrees  and  30  minutes." 

'  The  Halve-Maen  was  a  Vlie  boat  of  forty  lasts  burden.  The 
Dutch  last  equals  two  tons,  or'eighty  English  bushels. 

'  Dr.  Samuel  Latham  Mitchell  denies  the  possibility  of  salmon  there. 


HUDSON'S  LANDFALL.  5 

Passing  up  the  Bay,  Hudson  believed  the  great 
estuary  to  be  the  wished-for  strait  leading  to  the 
Pacific.  He  was  soon  too  absorbed  in  exploration 
of  the  noble  river  which  bears  his  name,  and  in 
equivocal  negotiations  with  the  Indians  of  Manhat- 
tan, to  concern  himself  with  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
Bay.  But  in  his  journal,  which  we  know  only  as 
quoted  by  De  Laet,  he  says:  "Is  het  schoonste  Landt 
om  te  bouwen  als  ick  oijt  mijn  leven  metvoeten  be- 
trat."  '  Some  of  his  men,  landing  near  Gravesend 
on  September  4th,  came  back  to  the  ship  charmed 
with  their  glimpse  of  the  new  country.  They  de- 
scribe it  as  "  full  of  great  tall  oaks,  and  the  land  as 
pleasant  to  see,  with  grass  and  flowers  as  ever  they 
had  seen,  and  very  sweet  smelles  came  from  them." 

Returning  from  the  ascent  of  the  river,  the  Halve- 
Maen  weighed  anchor  ofi  Sandy  Hook  October  4th, 
and  sailed  to  the  eastward.  Early  in  November, 
Hudson  reached  the  English  port  of  Dartmouth, 
and  sent  an  account  of  his  voyage  to  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  in  whose  employ  he  had  sailed. 
He  purposed  spending  the  winter  in  the  harbour, 
refitting  his  yacht  for  yet  another  voyage  in  search 
of  a  north-western  passage.  But,  before  the  spring 
breezes  swelled  the  new  sails  of  the  Halve-Maen,  a 
peremptory  order  from  King  James  forbade  his  re- 
turn to  Holland,  or  again  entering  the  service  of  any 
foreign  nation.  Hudson  never  again  saw  the  mer- 
chants of  Amsterdam,  whose  agent  he  was."     But 

'  "  It  is  the  finest  land  for  cultivation  that  ever  in  my  life  I  have 
trod." 

'  Hudson  sailed  from  London  to  his  lonely  death,  in  the  Discovery, 
March  10,  1610. 


6  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

he  had  opened  the  way  to  the  occupation  of  the 
country.  The  enterprising  States-General  at  once 
asserted  their  right  to  these  western  wilds,  and  very 
soon  other  adventurers  were  sent  to  secure  the 
valuable  trade  in  furs,  and  to  establish  posts  in  the 
interests  of  Dutch  commerce. 

The  Halve-Maen,  after  a  detention  of  eight  months 
in  England,  did  not  reach  Amsterdam  until  July,  1610. 
She  was  at  once  sent  with  part  of  the  old  crew  to 
the  River  of  Mountains,  as  the  Hudson  had  been 
called,  to  trade  for  furs.  The  next  year,  161 1,  Hen- 
drick  Christiaenzen,  of  Chef,  returning  from  the 
West  Indies,  passed  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mauri- 
tius, as  the  Dutch  had  then  named  the  new  river." 
Fearing  to  risk  his  valuable  cargo,  he  did  not  enter 
the  Upper  Bay,  but  as  soon  as  he  reached  Holland 
he  chartered  a  ship,  in  partnership  with  Adrian 
Block,  and  made  a  voyage  thither.  With  great 
store  of  furs,  they  took  back  to  Europe  with  them 
two  young  Indians,  Valentine  and  Orson,  who 
greatly  stimulated  the  curiosity  in  the  new  world. 

Amsterdam  was  already  the  "  Tyre  of  the  seven- 
teenth century "  ;  a  new  impulse  was  given  to 
navigation,  and  the  current  of  Dutch  enterprise 
turned  westward.  Hans  Hongers,  a  director  of  the 
East  India  Company,  with  Paulus  Pelgram  and 
Lambert  van  Tweenhuysen,  merchants  of  Hoorn, 
equipped  the  Fortune  and  the  Tiger,  under  Chris- 

'  Our  Hudson  bore  many  names.  First  spoken  of  as  the  Rio  de 
San  Antonio,  the  saintly  Pere  Joques  writes  of  it  :  "  L'entree  de  la 
riviere  que  quelques  uns  appelle  la  R.  Nassau  ou  la  grande  Riviere 
du  Nord,  quelques  cartes  ce  me  serables  que  j'ay  vii  nouvellm'  Riviere 
Maurice." — Novum  Belgium,  (1643-4). 


'7'  ON  RUST.  7 

tiaensen  and  Block,  and  in  1612  sent  them  again  to 
Manhattan.  In  161 3,  still  other  vessels  were  sent, 
and  the  Fortune  made  its  second  voyage  under  the 
schipper  Cornells  Jacobsen  Mey. 

The  misadventure  of  Adrian  Block  is  well  known. 
The  loss  of  his  ship  and  of  its  rich  freight  took  place 
just  as  they  were  about  to  start  on  their  homeward 
voyage.  In  that  long  winter  of  1613-14,  the  little 
crew  of  the  ill-fated  Tiger  endured  as  best  they 
might  the  rigour  of  a  climate  of  unwonted  severity. 
Near  the  southern  point  of  the  Island  of  Manhattan 
they  built  four  small  huts,'  while  in  a  sheltered  cove 
hard  by,  went  slowly  on  the  first  rude  ship-building" 
of  the  future  seaport.  One  cannot  believe  that 
meanwhile  their  attention  had  not  been  turned  to 
the  adjacent  Matowacks,  'T  Lange  Eylandt  of  the 
soon  to  be  settled  Nieuw  Nederlandt. 

In  the  early  days  of  April,  16 14,  the  newly  launched 
Onrust — prophetic  name — sailed  through  Helle-gat 
into  the  Sound— 'T  Groot  Baai,  the  first  vessel '  to 

'  It  is  probable  that  the  first  Dutch  post  was  on  Castle  Island,  he- 
low  Albany  (after  1630  called  Van  Rensselaer's,  or  Patroon's  Island), 
and  that  Block's  huts  were  the  first  European  dwellings  on  Manhat- 
tan. There  was  probably  no  fort  worthy  the  name  before  Minuit's 
arrival  in  1626,  when  a  block-house,  surrounded  by  cedar  palisades, 
was  built.  See  Brodhead's  History  of  New  York,  vol.  i.,  p.  755- 
A  bronze  tablet  has  been  erected  by  the  Holland  Society  on  the  site 
of  Block's  huts,  at  41-45  Broadway. 

^  Adrian  Block's  new  Jaght  was  a  little  craft,  forty-two  and  one- 
half  feet  in  length,  by  eleven  and  one-half  in  breadth,  of  but  eight 
lasts'  burden. 

"  Estevan  Gomez,  sent  out  in  1525  by  Charles  V.  and  merchants  of 
Corunna,  in  search  of  the  North-west  Passage,  sailed  along  the  coast 
from  Newfoundland  to  latitude  40°.     Palfrey  says  :  "  Probably  he 


8  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

make  that  perilous  passage.'  Block  gave  the  name 
of  Helle-Gat  to  all  the  East  River,  perhaps  after 
Helle-gat,  a  branch  of  the  Scheldt,  between  the 
manors  of  Axel  and  Hulst,'  but  more  probably  in 
rough  expression  of  the  peril  encountered. 

Entering  the  Sound,  Adrian  Block  was  too  expe- 
rienced a  navigator  not  to  recognise  the  value  of 
this  beautiful  inland  sea,  until  then  uncut  by  Euro- 
pean keel,  and  of  the  indented  coast  on  either  side, 

sailed  through  Long  Island  Sound  to  the  Hudson  River,  which  he 
named  the  Rio  de  San  Antonio." — History  of  New  England,  vol.  i., 
p.  65. 

The  first  English  vessel  sailed  through  the  Sound  in  i6ig  under 
Captain  Thomas  Dermer,  an  agent  of  Gorges.  After  passing  Cape- 
wack  (Martha's  Vineyard)  and  sailing  westward,  he  discovered  land 
"  hitherto  thought  to  be  main,"  and  winding  through  "  many  crooked 
and  strait  passages  "  (see  Nathaniel  Morton's  ' '  New-England' s  Me- 
morial), he  reached  and  defied  the  Dutch  post  on  Manhattan.  He 
calls  Hell  Gate,  "  a  most  dangerous  Cateract  between  small  rocky 
islands,  occasioned  by  two  unequal  tides,  the  one  ebbing  and  flowing 
two  hours  before  the  other.  From  thence  we  were  carried  by  the 
tides  swiftness  into  a  great  Bay  which  gave  us  sight  of  the  sea. " — 
Dermer's  Letter,  December  27,  1619. 

'  Its  dangers  had  not  become  familiar  when  in  1670,  in  his  Descrip- 
tion of  New  York,  Daniel  Denton  wrote  of  it  as  sending  forth  ' '  a 
hideous  roaring,  enough  to  fright  any  stranger  from  passing  any 
farther,  and  to  wait  for  some  Charon  to  carry  him  through." 

In  1678,  the  Reverend  Charles  WoUey,  Chaplain  at  Fort  James,  in 
his  Two  Years  Journall  in  New  York,  calls  it,  ' '  as  dangerous  and 
unaccoiintable  as  the  Norway  Whirl-pool,  or  Maelstrom,"  and  a 
later  traveller,  Burnaby,  in  1760,  declares,  "It  is  Impossible  to  go 
through  this  place  without  being  reminded  of  Scylla  and  Charybdis." 

'See  O'Callaghan's  History  of  New  Netherland,  vol.  i.,  p.  72. 
Compare  with  this  De  Laet's  remark  ten  years  later  in  De  Novis  Or- 
bis,  "  Our  people  call  it  Helle-Gat,  or  Inferni  Os."  An  old  French 
manuscript  of  the  seventeenth  century  also  speaks  of  it  as  "  trou 
d'Enfer." 


BLOCK  S  DISCOVERIES.  9 

at  his  right,  so  rich  in  land-locked  harbours.  These 
harbours  he  entered  ;  he  sailed  up  the  Connecticut 
above  the  site  of  Hartford,  naming  it  'T  Versch 
Rivier;  he  explored  Narragan sett  and  Buzzard's 
Bays,  calling  the  former  Nassau  Baai.  He  named 
'T  Roode  Eylandt,  which  need  not  seek  its  proto- 
nym  in  ^gean  waters ;  he  rounded  Cape  Cod, — 
'T  Vlacke  Hoeck,  or  Cape  Malabar  of  the  next  gen- 
eration, and  landed  at  several  places  on  Massachu- 
setts Bay  as  far  north  as  Nahant.  It  is  not  strange 
that  the  Dutch  set  the  bounds  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt 
by  right  of  discovery.'  At  Cape  Cod,  Block  left  the 
Onrust  with  Cornells  Hendricxsen  to  be  used  in  the 
coasting  fur  trade,  and  returned  to  Holland  in  the 
Fortune.  His  voyage  was  followed  by  Mey,  schip- 
per  of  the  Blyde  Bootscap^  soon  after  skirting  the 
southern  shore  of  Mattowacks  to  its  extreme  point, 
and  thus  completing  the  discovery  of  Long  Island, 
and  five  years  before  Dermer's  voyage,  proving  it 
not  to  be  "  main." 

Six  months  after,'  the  weather-beaten  Block  ap- 
peared at  The  Hague  before  the  Lords  of  the  United 
Belgic  Provinces,  in  Council   assembled.     He   dis- 

'  In  the  "  Figurative  Map  "  presented  to  the  States-General,  August 
18,  1616,  and  found  by  Mr.  Brodhead  at  The  Hague  in  1841,  Nieuw 
Nederlandt  extends  from  Virginia — all  territory  south  of  latitude  40° 
— to  the  Penobscot,  beyond  which  all  to  the  eastward  was  New 
France. 

*  Good  Tidings. 

'  October  11,  1614.  On  that  same,  day  the  versatile  Captain  John 
Smith  was  showing  to  the  young  Prince  Charles  of  England,  the  chart 
and  the  journals  of  his  own  recently  finished  voyage  exploring  the 
coast  from  the  Penobscot  to  Cape  Cod.  The  name.  New  England, 
was  then  given  by  Charles. 


lO  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

played  his  rudely  drawn  chart,  and  told  his  story 
with  such  convincing  force,  that  then  and  there  the 
name  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt  was  given  to  the  un- 
known land,  and  the  wise  Barneveldt  was  moved  to 
declare,  that  "  In  course  of  time  these  regions  might 
become  of  great  political  importance  to  the  Dutch 
Republic." 

A  charter '  was  at  once  issued  for  three  years  to 
the  merchants  represented  by  Block,  as  the  United 
Netherlands  Company,  privileged  to  trade  in  the  ter- 
ritory lying  between  Virginia  and  New  France.  Its 
agents  made  the  first  settlement  on  the  Island  of 
Manhattan.  Seven  years  later,  June  3,  1621,  the 
States-General  granted  under  the  name  of "  '  T  Good- 
royeerde  West  Indise  Compagnie,"  such  a  renewal 
and  extension  of  the  original  privileges  as  gave  for 
more  than  fifty  years,  to  a  trading  corporation  of 
private  men,  sovereign  and  almost  supreme  power. 
They  were  empowered  to  plant  colonies  from  the 
Tropic  of  Cancer  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  from 
Cape  Horn  to  Greenland.  It  was  theirs  to  make 
war,  or  to  conclude  peace ;  to  contract  alliances ;  to 
administer  justice ;  to  appoint  or  to  remove  officers. 
The  Company  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  an 
independent  autonomy. 

Its  executive  power  was  vested  in  the  Five  Cham- 
bers, representing  Amsterdam,  Zealand,  Maez,  Fries- 
land,  and  North  Holland.  Of  these,  Amsterdam, 
which  specially  directed  the  affairs  of  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt, held  four  ninths,  and  Zealand,  two  ninths  of 
the    capital   of    twelve  million   florins  ($5,280,000). 

^  See  fac-simile  in  Memorial  History  of  New  York,  vol.  i.,  p.  129. 


THE  WEST  INDIA    COMPANY.  II 

From  the  directors  were  chosen  the  general  com- 
mittee, and  the  executive  board,  called  the  College  of 
XIX.' 

The  West  India  Company  had  been  first  planned 
in  1604  by  Willem  Usselincx,  a  far-seeing  merchant 
of  Antwerp.  But  just  as  the  Lords  of  the  Council 
were  about  to  sign  the  charter,  the  conclusion  of  a 
truce  with  Spain  prevented  their  action.  The  new 
charter  was  issued  for  twenty-four  years,  and  its 
privileges  were  later  continued  and  renewed.  The 
States-General  reserved  an  appellate  jurisdiction 
and  issued  commissions  to  the  governors  appointed, 
but  the  governors  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
West  India  Company  also,  and  that  body  was  the 
virtual  source  of  power.  During  the  year  1621,  all 
inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands,  or  indeed  of  any 
other  country,  might  become  stockholders.  It  then 
became  a  close  corporation  into  which  no  new  mem- 
bers were  to  be  admitted,  and  in  1623  its  organisa- 
tion was  completed  :  Nieuw  Nederlandt  was  erected 
into  a  Province  of  the  States-General  privileged  to 
use  the  armorial  bearings  of  an  earldom.  Its  pro- 
vincial seal  was  a  beaver  proper  on  a  shield  sur- 
mounted by  a  count's  coronet. 

But  the  West  India  Company  was  instituted  not 
merely  in  the  interests  of  trade.  A  distinct  provi- 
sion of  its  charter  instructs  the  directors  to  further 

'  The  number  of  the  directors  was  not  proportionate  to  the  stock 
of  the  several  provinces,  Amsterdam  having  only  twenty,  and  Zea- 
land twelve,  while  each  of  the  other  Chambers  was  represented  by 
fourteen  men.  In  the  College  of  XIX.,  however,  Amsterdam  fur- 
nished eight  members ;  Zealand,  four ;  Maez,  two  ;  North  Holland, 
two  ;  and  the  States-General,  one. 


12  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  the  peopling  of  the  fruitful  and  unsettled  parts," 
a  purpose  which  they  endeavoured  wisely  to  carry 
out.  Their  right  to  the  country — the  right  of  dis- 
covery as  understood  by  the  law  of  nations,  was  not 
undisputed  in  deed,  nor  by  the  historians  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  In  the  Chronological  Obser- 
vations on  America,  by  John  Josselyn,  Gentleman, 
are  these  notes : 

"  1609.  Hudson's  third  voyage  to  New  found 
land  discovers  Mohegan  River  in  New  England. 
The  Dutch  sat  down  by  Mohegan  River. 

"1614.  New  Netherland  began  to  be  planted  upon 
Mohegan  River.    Sir  Samuel  Argall  routed  them." 

This  supposed  visit  of  Argall  has  been  a  matter 
of  much  dispute,  but  the  evidence  in  its  support 
vanishes  before  careful  scrutiny.  Purchas  says  noth- 
ing thereof,  nor  is  it  mentioned  in  Smith's  Generall 
Historie  of  Virginia.  It  is  claimed  that  returning 
with  Dale  from  their  murderous  descent  upon  Port 
Royal,  an  expedition  in  wanton  cruelty  exceeded 
only  by  Menendez's  massacre  at  the  River  of  May, 
Argall  entered  the  bay  and  terrified  the  half  dozen 
traders  at  Manhattan  into  an  acknowledgment  of 
English  supremacy  :  "  Hereupon  the  Dutch  Gov- 
ernor submits  himself  and  his  plantation  to  his  Ma- 
jesty of  England,  and  to  the  Governor  of  Virginia 
for  and  under  him."  '  Ogilby  '■■  also  speaks  of  his 
coming,    "  when  the   Dutch   were  scarce  warm   in 

'  See  Collections  New  York  Historical  Society,  series  ii. ,  vol.  i. 
P-  335- 

'  America,  being  an  Accurate  Description  of  the  New  World.  By 
John  Ogilby,  Gent.,  of  Ireland,  1670. 


ARGALL'S  VISIT,  1 3 

their  quarters  "  and  asserts  that  they  then  admitted 
the  claims  of  King  James. 

Beauchamp  Plantagenet,'  writing  in  1648,  says 
that  Argall  returning  from  Mount  Desert  to  Vir- 
ginia, "  landed  at  Monhattas  Isle  where  they  found 
four  houses  and  a  pretended  Dutch  Governor  under 
the  West  India  Company,  who  kept  trading  boats 
and  trucked  with  the  Indians.  But  the  said  knight 
told  them  their  commission  was  to  expell  them  and 
all  alien  intruders  on  his  Majesty's  dominions  and 
territories,  this  being  a  part  of  Virginia  discovered 
by  Henry  Hudson,  an  Englishman."  But  errors  are 
obvious  in  all  these  narrations.'  That  a  few  years 
later,  Argall  planned  such  an  expedition  is  clear. 
In  1619,  he  writes  to  Purchas,  that  "  the  Hollanders 
as  interlopers  have  fallen  into  ye  middle  betwixt  ye 
plantations  of  Virginia  and  New-England."  In  1621, 
he  purposed  their  expulsion,  but  learning  how  well 
the  ground  was  occupied,  "  a  Demurre  in  their 
p'ceding  was  caused."' 

In  1 62 1,  Captain  Dermer,  sailing  from  Virginia  to 
New  England,  resolved  to  assert  the  claim  which  in 
his  perilous  passage  of  Helle-gat  he  had  not  at- 
tempted. He  met  "  the  Hollanders  who  traded 
at  Hudson's  River,"  and  held  various  "  conferences  " 
with  them,  "warning  them  not  to  continue  in 
English   territory,"     and,   adds    Gorges,    "forbade 

'  Supposed  to  be  the  pseudonym  of  Sir  Edmund  Plowden. 

^  Brodhead  says  :  "  This  favourite  story  is  very  suspicious  and  in- 
consistent with  State  papers"  [History  of  New  York,  vol.  i.,  p.  54). 
while  so  careful  an  antiquarian  as  the  late  H.  M.  Murphy,  declares 
it  a  "  pure  iiction  unsustained  by  any  good  anthority." 

'  See  Winsor's  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  iv.,  p.  427. 


14  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

them  the  place  as  being  by  his  Majesty  appointed 
to  us."  One  may  guess  these  remonstrances  had 
slight  effect  upon  the  matter-of-fact  Hollanders. 

Later,  an  anonymous  writer '  says  that  "  the 
Hollanders  have  stolen  into  a  River  called  Hudson's 
River  in  the  limits  of  Virginia  and  about  39°.  They 
have  built  a  strong  Fort  there,  and  call  it  Prince 
Maurice's  River  and  New  Netherland.  .  .  .  Thus 
are  the  English  nosed  in  all  places  and  out-traded 
by  the  Dutch.  They  would  not  suffer  the  English 
to  use  them  so,  but  they  have  vigilant  statesmen 
and  advance  all  they  can  for  a  common  good,  and 
will  not  spare  any  encouragement  to  their  people  to 
discover." 

Following  the  hypothetical  attack  by  Argall,  and 
the  fruitless  mission  of  Dermer,  was  a  still  more 
vague  attempt  at  English  possession.  Through  it, 
as  part  of  the  Palatinate  of  New  Albion,  Long 
Island  was  included  in  one  of  the  most  visionary  of 
all  the  chimerical  schemes  for  the  peopling  of  the 
New  World.  Scarcely  six  years  after  the  purchase 
of  Manhattan  by  the  Dutch,  Sir  Edmund  Plowden, 
Knight,  and  other  adventurers,  addressed  to  Charles 
L  a  "  humble  peticon,"  '  which  "  sheweth  "  as 
follows : 

"  Whereas  there  is  a  small  place  w'^in  the  confines 
of  Virginia— 150  myles  northward  from  the  Savages 
and  James  Citty,  without  the  Bay  of  Chesapeak, 

1  A  Perfect  Description  of  Virginia,  Printed  at  the  Star  wider 
Peter's  Church,  164^.  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  series  ii., 
vol.  ix.,  p.  113. 

^  London  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  vi.,  No.  60.  (In  N.  V.  Hist.  Soc'y 
Collections,  1869,  p.  215.) 


ISLE  PLOWDEN.  I  5 

and  a  convenient  Isle  there  to  be  inhabited  called 
Manitie,  or  Long  Island,  in  39°  of  Lattitude,  and 
not  formerly  granted."  The  Petitioners  "are  will- 
ing, now  at  their  own  coste  and  chardges  to  aduen- 
ture,  plant  and  settle  there  three  hundred  Inhabitants 
for  the  making  of  wine,  saulte  and  Iron,  fishing  of 
Sturgeon  and  mullet.  .  .  .  Humbly  beseeching 
your  most  excellent  ma''^  to  make  to  your  subjects 
the  aduenturers  a  pattent  of  ye  saide  Isle  and  30 
myles  of  ye  coste  adjoining  to  be  erected  into  a 
County  Palatine  called  Syon." 

To  this  memorial  a  gracious  reply  is  returned  from 
the  Court  at  Oatlands,  July  24,  1632.  The  King 
having  been  "  informed  that  there  is  a  certain  habit- 
able and  fruitful  Island  near  the  Continent  of  Vir- 
ginia, named  the  Isle  Plowden,  or  Long-Isle,  whereof 
neither  we  nor  our  Royall  progenitors  have  hitherto 
made  any  grant,'  which  being  by  our  people  care- 
fully planted  and  inhabited,  may  prove  of  good  con- 
sequence to  our  Subjects  and  Kingdom,"  he  grants 
"  the  said  Isle  Plowden,  or  Long-Isle,  between  39° 
and  40°  north  lattitude  "  and  forty  leagues  square  of 

'  The  original  grant  of  James  I.  to  Sir  William  Alexander,  made 
ini62i,  included  Long  Island,  which  also  came  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Plymouth  Company. 

°  Beauchamp  Plantagenet,  in  1648,  describes  the  bounds  of  New 
Albion  as  follows  :  "  Our  south  bound  is  Maryland' s  north  bounds 
and  begineth  at  Aqaats,  or  the  southernmost  or  first  cape  of  Dela- 
ware Bay  in  38°  40'  and  so  runneth  .  .  .  and  thence  northward 
to  the  head  of  Hudson's  River,  50  leagues,  and  so  down  Hudson's 
River,  to  the  ocean  60  leagues,  and  thence  all  Hudson's  River's  Isles, 
Long-Isle,  or  Paumunke,  and  all  Isles  within  10  leagues  of  the  said 
Province.  Long-Isle  alone  is  about  twenty  miles  broad  and  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  long." — Force's  Colonial  Tracts. 


l6  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

the  adjoining  country,  to  be  holden  of  our  Crown  of 
Ireland  under  the  name  of  New  Albion,  to  Sir  Ed- 
mund Plowden  as  the  first  Governor." 

The  stately  title  of  Earl  Palatine  as  foreign  to  our 
soil  as  Locke's  later  Carolinian  dignities,  passed  in 
two  years  to  the  son  of  Sir  Edmund,  and  was  pre- 
served in  the  Maryland  family  for  two  generations, 
though  with  but  little  of  the  ancestral  jurisdiction. 
Meanwhile  a  lease  had  been  granted  to  Sir  Thomas 
Danby  of  ten  thousand  acres,  one  hundred  of  which 
were  to  be  "  on  the  N.  E.  end  or  cape  of  Long 
Island."  '  To  him  was  given  the  right  to  establish  a 
Court-Baron  and  a  Court-Leet,  with  the  privileges  of 
town  and  manor  wherever  should  be  formed  a  set- 
tlement of  a  hundred  planters.  The  only  restriction 
was  "  to  suffer  none  to  live  therein  not  believing,  or 
professing  the  three  Christian  creeds,  commonly 
called  the  Apostolical,  the  Athanasian,  and  the 
Nicene." 

Just  before  the  Revolution,  the  Reverend  Charles 
Varlo  bought  one-third  of  the  land  chartered  as  New 
Albion.  In  1784  he  visited  the  country,  "invested 
with  proper  authority  as  Governor  of  the  Province, 
not  doubting  the  enjoyment  of  his  property."  He 
travelled  through  Long  Island,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland,  and  Delaware.  He  issued  a 
proclamation  in  the  name  of  the  Earl  of  Albion,  and 
in  July,  1785,  published  a  "Caution  to  the  Good 
People  of  the  Province  of  New  Albion,  corruptly 
called  the  Jerseys,"  not  to  buy  nor  contract  for  land  ^ 
in  the  said    province.      He   also   advertised,  "  the 

'  The  greater  part  was  near  Watresset,  now  Salem,  New  Jersey. 


'T  ORANJIEN  BOVEN.  1/ 

finest  part  of  America  to  be  Sold  or  Lett,  from 
800  to  4000  acres  in  a  farm,  all  that  Entire  Estate 
called  Long  Island  in  New  Albion,  Lying  near 
New  York,  belonging  to  the  Earl  Palatine  of  New 
Albion."  ' 

But,  despite  these  spasmodic  efforts  of  England  to 
possess  the  entire  coast  along  which  Cabot  sailed, 
the  Dutch  discoverers  held  their  ground  for  half  a 
century.  In  the  western  part  of  Long  Island  as 
thoroughly  as  on  the  Island  of  Manhattan,  or  in  the 
valley  of  the  Hudson,  "  'T  Oranjien  Boven  " — rally- 
ing cry  of  the  United  Netherlands — was  supreme. 
The  story  of  the  planting  of  Nieuw  Amsterdam  is 
one  with  the  iirst  settling  of  Brooklyn  and  of  the 
neighbouring  towns.  Thus  it  was  that  under  the 
Company's  flag  of  orange,  blue,  and  white,  and  in 
the  brief  rule  of  the  first  Director-General,  the  Wal- 
loon Deacon,  Peter  Minuit,''  the  Dutch  period  of  the 
history  of  Long  Island  begins. 

'  Varlo  afterward  attempted  to  gain  possession  of  his  estates 
through  a  protracted  suit  in  Chancery. 

'  Peter  Minuit,  a  Hollander  of  Huguenot  descent,  was  an  officer  in 
the  French  Church  at  Wessel.  The  first  Governor  bearing  the  title 
of  Director-General,  he  reached  Nieuw  Amsterdam  in  the  Sea  Mew, 
May  4,  1626,  after  a  perilous  voyage  of  more  than  three  months.  He 
had  been  preceded  by  Willem  Verhulst,  and  he  by  Cornells  Mey, 
who  first  organised  a  civil  government  in  1624,  a  year  after  the 
arrival  of  thfe  Nieuw  Nederlandt  with  thirty  families,  chiefly  Wal- 
loons. Of  these,  the  greater  number  went  up  the  river  and  founded 
Fort  Orange,  but  a  few  remained  on  Manhattan,  becoming  the  first 
pernianent  settlers  of  New  Amsterdam,  while  there  is  strong  reason 
to  believe  that  at  least  one  family  thus  early  seated  itself  on  the 
Waal  Boght. 


II. 

THE    LAND. 

LONG  ISLAND,  seat  of  the  oldest  English  set- 
tlements in  New  York,  is  nevertheless,  the 
most  recently  formed  land  of  the  State.  It 
is  scarcely  even  organically  a  part  of  that  early  up- 
heaval of  archaean  beds  which  composes  the  Island 
of  Manhattan,  and  through  which  for  long  leagues 
the  once  more  mighty  Hudson  broke  its  course  to 
the  sea.  It  is  only  in  a  brief  half-mile  at  Hallet's 
Cove,  opposite  Hell  Gate,  that  these  Montalban  for- 
mations appear,  in  a  hornblende  slate  and  a  gneiss- 
oid  rock  directly  beneath  the  drift.  With  this 
exception,  the  Tertiary  underlies  the  entire  island, 
whose  surface  strata  are  from  the  shifting  sands  of 
the  sea,  and  from  the  glacial  deposits  pushed  down 
the  Connecticut  River  valley  in  comparatively  recent 
times.' 

Evolved  from  such  differing  component  elements, 

'  An  uplifting  of  two  hundred  feet  would  make  Long  Island  Sound 
dry  ground.  The  Indians  held  a  tradition  that  in  former  times  they 
could  cross  the  East  River  at  Hell  Gate,  stepping  from  rock  to  rock. 
The  island  is  now  subsiding  at  the  rate  of  a  few  inches  a  century. 

18 


THE  ISLAND  BACKBONE.  1 9 

the  topography  of  Long  Island,  in  every  acre  of  its 
surface,  speaks  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  opposing 
forces.  The  popular  division  of  "  North  Side  "  and 
"  South  Side  "  is  one  not  merely  of  local  conveni- 
ence, but  of  great  natural  significance. 

The  backbone  of  the  island  runs  nearly  its  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  of  length,  from  New- 
Utrecht  to  Orient,  and  is  part  of  the  great  terminal 
moraine  extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  Minnesota. 
It  divides  almost  equally  the  average  breadth  of  the 
island,  which  is  about  fifteen  miles.  The  fertile 
North  Side  borders  the  Sound,  its  picturesque  shores 
broken  by  the  beautiful  bays  and  inlets  running  up 
country  into  short  tide-water  rivers,  forming  the 
cross  valleys  so  characteristic  of  the  region.  The 
South  Side  slopes  smoothly  to  the  sea,  sandy  and 
seemingly  sterile,  yet  most  responsive  to  intelligent 
cultivation.  So  abrupt  is  the  transition  from  undu- 
lating fields  and  wooded  dells  to  the  unbroken  tree- 
less stretch  of  the  Great  Plains,  that  through  a  long 
reach  of  country  "  The  Plain-Edge  "  is  the  name  it 
bears — one  of  those  autochthonic  names  which  are 
the  direct  outcome  of  the  nature  of  things. 

The  Hempstead  Plains,  a  most  marked  feature  of 
Queens  County,  are  continued  westward  by  "The 
Little  Plains,"  on  which  Governor  Nicoll,  in  1665, 
established  his  race-course  of  New-Market.  Sixteen 
miles  in  length,  sixty  thousand  acres  in  extent,  the 
Plains  were  the  common  pasturage  of  the  early 
planters.  Seventeen  thousand  acres  were  so  held 
throughout  the  eighteenth  century.  By  a  strange 
misconception,  the  soil  was  deemed  too  porous  to  be 


20  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

ploughed,  and  no  attempt  was  made  at  cultivation 
until  within  a  hundred  years,  when  it  was  first  en- 
closed as  farms.  One  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
above  the  sea-level  it  slopes  imperceptibly  to  the 
beach  in  a  prairie-like  expanse.  The  grass  formerly 
grew  to  the  height  of  five  or  six  feet,  but  the 
earliest  variety — "  Secretary  grass  " — was  short  and 
fine,  making  a  very  thick,  tough  sod,  which  required 
two  yokes  of  oxen  in  breaking  it  up.  In  1670, 
Daniel  Denton  wrote  of  the  Plains  :  "  There  is  neither 
stick  nor  stone,  and  it  produceth  very  fine  grass 
which  makes  exceeding  good  hay  which  is  no  small 
benefit  to  the  towns  which  own  it."  ' 

A  belt  of  very  fertile  soil,  called  "  The  Red 
Ground,"  runs  through  the  towns  of  Oyster  Bay 
and  Hempstead.  Thorough  drainage  everywhere 
results  from  the  under-stratum  of  gravel,  ensuring  a 
wholesome  climate.  Clay,  not  sand,  is  the  chief  in- 
gredient of  the  soil,  superficially  darkened  with  vege- 
table mould."  The  "  Dry  Rivers  "  are  very  distinct 
on  the  Plains,  and  are  often  used  as  road-beds.  The 
hard  bottoms,  thin  soil,  meandering  course,  definite 

'  Denton  also  describes  the  phenomena  of  "  Looming  "  (mirage)  as 
often  visible  over  the  Hempstead  Plains. 

'  The  Swedish  botanist,  Kalm,  travelling  in  America  in  1749, 
Veritas  of  Long  Island  :  "  The  soil  of  the  south  part  is  very  poor,  but 
this  deficiency  is  made  up  by  a  vast  quantity  of  oysters,  lobsters, 
crabs,  fish,  and  numbers  of  water-fowl,  all  of  vfhich  are  far  more 
abundant  than  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Island.  When  the  tide  is 
out,  it  is  easy  to  fill  a  whole  cart  with  oysters  which  have  been  driven 
ashore  by  one  flood.  The  Island  is  strewn  with  oyster  shells  and 
other  shells  which  the  Indians  have  left  there." — Kalm's  Travels, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  226. 


GLACIAL  DEPOSITS.  21 

banks,  and  abundance  of  fresh-water  shells,  all  attest 
the  fluviatile  origin  of  these  channels. 

The  glacial  drift  covers  the  North  Side,  strewn 
with  scattered  bowlders,'  cobbles,  pebbles,  of  remote 
and  varied  origin.  There  is  an  Indian  tradition  that 
the  present  surface  conditions  of  Long  Island  and 
Connecticut  were  once  reversed.  The  Evil  Spirit 
set  up  a  claim  to  the  mainland  which  the  red  men 
resisted  and  drove  him  thence  across  the  "  Stepping 
Stones,"  which  extend  to  the  foot  of  Great  Neck 
and  eastward  to  Coram.  There  he  planned  revenge. 
Gathering  into  heaps  at  Cold  Spring  the  great  rocks 
with  which  the  island  was  then  thickly  strewn,  he 
threw  them  across  the  Sound  over  the  smooth  maize 
lands  of  Connecticut.  The  prints  of  his  feet  upon  a 
rock  at  Cold  Spring  were  often  shown  to  the  early 
settlers. 

Nowhere  does  one  find  bed-rock.  The  soil,  to  ap- 
pearance sandy  and  gravelly,  has  a  body  of  clay  and 
is  rich  in  phosphates.  Beds  of  clay  suitable  for 
brick-making  and  for  coarse  pottery  are  not  infre- 
quent. Dr.  Robert  Childs,  Doctor  of  Corpus  Christi 
and  of  Padua,  writes  from  Boston  to  the  younger 
John  Winthrop,  March  i6,  1646,  as  follows  : 

"  I  have  a  desir  to  set  ye  glassemen  on  worke  if 

'  Some  of  these  bowlders  are  of  great  size,  as  notably  Kidd's  Rock 
at  Sands's  Point,  about  which  have  been  hundreds  of  excavations  in 
search  of  hidden  treasure.  ' '  The  Millstone  Rock  "  at  Manhasset, 
the  largest  bowlder  on  the  Island,  is  a  mass  of  granite  schist  measur- 
ing forty-four  by  thirty-five  feet,  and  thirteen  feet  above  ground,  with 
an  estimated  weight  of  fifteen  hundred  tons. 

The  bowlders  are  most  numerous  in  North  Hempstead  and  in 
Flushing, 


22  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

only  we  could  acquire  a  little  of  ye  clay  of  Long 
Island.  We  hope  if  you  goe  to  ye  Dutch  in  yo' 
small  boate  yt  will  bring  a  tun  or  2  to  yo'  plantacon 
and  exactly  marke  ye  place  yt  you  may  readily  finde 
it  hereafter.  I  pitty  ye  poore  men  who  are  honest 
and  ingenuos." 

There  is  excellent  potter's  clay  at  Whitestone  and 
at  Lloyd's  Point.  Mr.  Brodhead  pronounces  the 
potteries  of  Long  Island  in  1661  to  equal  the  best 
manufacture  of  Delft.'  East  of  Flushing,  the  clay 
is  not  seldom  so  permeated  with  iron  as  to  be  of  an 
ochreous  nature,  while  geodes  and  concretions  of 
limonite,  lignite,  and  fossilised'  woods  were  found 
by  Mather  from  Lloyd's  Po.int  eastward.  The  wood 
was  in  some  cases  carbonised,"  in  others  changed  to 
a  bog-iron  ore.     Few  authentic  fossils^  have  been 

'  Among  early  advertisements,  may  be  noticed  the  following  : 

"  March  31,  1735,  the  widow  of  Thomas  Farrington  offers  for  sale 
her  farm  at  Whitestone,  opposite  Frog's  Neck.  It  has  20  acres  of 
clay-ground  fit  for  making  tobacco  pipes." 

"May  31,  1751.  Any  person  desirous  of  being  supplied  with 
vases,  urns,  flower-pots,  &c.,  to  adorn  gardens  and  tops  of  houses, 
or  any  other  ornament  made  of  clay  by  Edmund  Aunely  at  White- 
stone, he  having  set  up  the  potters'  business  by  means  of  a  German 
family  who  are  supposed  by  their  work  to  be  the  most  ingenious  that 
ever  arrived  in  America.  He  has  clay  capable  of  making  8  different 
kinds  of  ware." 

'  October  9,  1677.  "  John  Thompson  of  Setauket  has  a  permit  to 
go  to  Flushing  and  other  parts  of  Long  Island  to  search  for  sea-coal, 
of  which  he  hath  probable  information." 

In  the  Report  of  the  Board  of  Trade  for  172 1,  "A  Representation 
of  the  State  of  His  Majesty's  Colonies  and  Plantations  on  the  Conti- 
nent of  North  America,"  it  is  said,  "there  are  coal  mines  on  Long 
Island  which  have  not  yet  been  worked." 

'In  1858  a  few  remains  of  a  mastodon  were  found  at  Baisley's 


LONG  ISLAND  SPRINGS.  23 

discovered,  but  everywhere,  at  a  depth  of  forty  or 
fifty  feet,  shells  of  existing  species'  are  found. 

All  along  the  North  Shore  springs  of  very  pure 
water  issue  from  the  gravel  beds  scarcely  above  the 
reach  of  the  tide.  Many  of  these  at  the  head  of  the 
bays  supply  large  streams  of  water  which  are 
dammed  in  their  narrow  valleys,  forming  pools  at 
once  a  source  of  motive  power  and  of  great  scenic 
beauty.  Other  ponds  there  are,  scattered  sylvan 
mirrors,  filling  frequent  saucer-shaped  depressions  or 
"  Sinks  "  in  the  ground,  spots  where  perhaps  melted 
the  last  stranded  icebergs  of  a  glacial  epoch." 

On  the  Plains,  springs  are  more  rare.  To  one  on 
Manetta  HilP  a  supernatural  origin  was  ascribed. 
An  Indian  legend  tells  that  during  a  long  drought, 
the  people  prayed  the  Great  Spirit  for  relief.  The 
beneficent  Manitou  directed  the  chief  to  shoot  an 
arrow  into  the  air  and  where  it  fell,  to  dig  for  water. 
The  arrow  dropped  on  a  slight  eminence  near  West- 
bury,  and  digging  there,  an  abundant  and  perma- 
nent spring  burst  forth. 

The  beautiful  Lake  Ronkonkoma  presents  a  prob- 
lem to  which  slight  scientific  scrutiny  has  been  given. 
The  surface  of  the  lake,  some  three  miles  in  circuit, 
is  eighty  feet  above  the  sea-level,  while  from  twenty 
to  thirty  feet  below  the  surrounding  country.     At 

Pond  near  Jamaica,  the  fragments,  six  molars  and  a  piece  of  a 
femur,  were  blackened  but  not  mineralised,  and  crumbled  soon  after 
exposure  to  the  air. 

'  Chiefly  Ostrea  Virginica  and  Venus  mercenaria. 

"  In  the  unusually  dry  October  of  iSgz,  several  of  these  ponds  were 
dry  for  the  first  time  in  the  memory  of  man. 

"  Manetta,  a  corruption  of  Manitou. 


24  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLA-ND. 

intervals  of  several  years  the  lake  has  its  periods  of 
marked  advance  and  recession.  In  a  few  weeks  the 
beach  of  dazzling  whiteness,  fringed  with  maritime 
plants  will  be  submerged  by  the  rising  waters  which 
creep  far  into  the  surrounding  woodlands.  After 
some  months  the  waters  gradually  lower,  reducing 
the  lake  to  its  usual  area.  But  of  these  movements 
no  exact  observations  have  been  made,  and  it  is  idle 
to  base  a  hypothesis  of  any  secular  phenomena 
upon  merely  occasional  observation  and  popular 
report."  Curious  beliefs  are  current  in  the  neighbour- 
hood about  the  lake  and  this  strange  periodicity. 
One  story  asserts  that  articles  dropped  into  its  un- 
fathomed  depths,  months  after  appear  on  the  sur- 
face of  a  Connecticut  pond.  The  Indians  had  a 
most  superstitious  reverence  for  Ronkonkoma. 
They  even  refused  to  catch  the  fish  thronging  its 
clear  waters,  believing  them  under  the  special  pro- 
tection of  the  Great  Spirit,  while  on  its  white  beach 
were  held  the  most  solemn  of  their  Kintecoys.  Its 
very  name  suggests  a  question  of  some  historic  im- 
portance. Ronkonkoma,  in  melodious  contrast  to 
most  of  the  Algonquin  names,  is  sonorous  as  an 
Iroquois  word.  May  not  a  trace  of  the  vassalage  to 
the  Five  Nations  be  preserved  in  the  stately  name 
of  this  mysterious  sheet  of  water  ? 

The  Salt-Meadows  with  their  heavy  crops  of 
marsh  grasses,  giving  the  dearly  relished  salt-hay, 

'  Thoreau  notes  in  Walden  Pond  a  rise  and  fall  of  six  or  seven  feet 
independent  of  the  varying  rainfall,  but  he  wisely  refrains  from  any 
hasty  explanation  of  a  fluctuation  which,  whether  periodical  or  not, 
requires  many  years  for  its  accomplishment.—  Walden,  p.  lo,  196. 


THE  BARRIER  REEFS.  2$ 

are  valuable  tracts  which  being  dyked  would  greatly 
add  to  the  arable  area  of  the  island.  The  line  of 
barrier  reefs  from  Sagg  to  Coney  Island,  broken 
only  by  an  occasional  "  gut  " '  gives  a  channel  for 
inland  navigation  two-thirds  the  length  of  the 
Island. 

Nothing  is  so  fluctuating  and  unstable  as  "  the 
solid  earth,"  and  nowhere  can  one  better  mark  its 
changes  than  on  this  sea-born  island  of  Nassau. 
But  Neptune,  like  his  father  Kronos,  devours  his 
offspring.  Within  the  two  centuries  of  intelligent 
observation,  there  have  been  many  gains  of  land  and 
frequent  annexation  of  out-lying  islets,  but  the 
ocean  ever  beats  and  buffets  the  undefended  coast 
and  carries  its  spoils  to  build  up  some  other  land 
whose  history  is  not  yet  begun. 

The  northeast  winds  of  the  heaviest  storms  sweep 
westward  the  silt-laden  waves  with  a  tendency  to 
deposit  the  detritus  in  bars,  shoals,  or  spits  at  the 
outlet  of  the  various  bays  along  the  Sound,  thus 
gradually  filling  up.  Great  Hog  Neck,  and  Little 
Hog  Neck,  near  Sag  Harbour,  were  not  long  ago 
islands ;  the  eastern  half  of  the  town  of  Southold 
consists  of  three  connected  islands ;  Lloyd's  Neck 
was  an  island ;  Eaton's  Neck,  a  group  of  four. 
Great  Pond  Bay,  Fort  Pond  Bay,  and  Neapogue 
represent   the    straits   which    once   separated    into 

'  Gut,  from  the  Dutch  "gat,"  or  gate.  Van  der  Donck  speaks  of 
these  passages  as  "  convenient  gaten."  Judge  Benson  says  every 
inlet  on  the  South  Shore  was  formerly  called  a  gut.  There  is  a  well 
authenticated  tradition  that  Fire  Island  Gut  broke  through  in  the 
great  storm  of  1691. 


26  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

islands  the  peninsular  extension  of  Easthampton,' 
while  Great  South  Beach,  stretching  its  length  of 
sand  and  shingle  full  twenty  leagues,  if  not  formed 
within  the  historic  period,  is  still  of  very  recent 
origin. 

To  counterbalance  these  continuous  gains  in  ex- 
tent, there  is  no  less  sure  loss,  and  the  two  are  now, 
perhaps,  equally  balanced.  Indian  tradition  points 
to  no  remote  time  when  Plum  Island  was  connected 
with  Long  Island,  and  there  is  not  a  doubt  that 
Fisher's  Island  was  once  part  of  the  encircHng  reef 
which  made  of  the  Sound  a  true  Mediterranean. 
Montauk  Point,^  the  defiant  finger  stretched  out  to 
sea,  is  still  constantly  yielding  to  the  fierce  surf 
which  breaks  at  the  base  of  its  jagged  cliffs,  those 
untamed  waves  which  have  gathered  their  force  in 
an  Atlantic's  breadth,  and  whose  resistless  momen- 
tum is  encroaching  equally  on  the  defenceless 
Neapogue  Beach.' 

'  The  Neapogue  Isthmus  now  connects  the  peninsula  with  the 
main  island.  On  the  Point  are  several  ponds  of  fresh  water — Great 
Pond,  Fort  Pond,  Fresh  Pond,  and  Money  Pond,  where  it  is  believed 
Kidd  buried  two  chests  of  gold  coin.  Near  by  is  a  chalybeate  spring, 
of  former  repute  for  its  medicinal  virtues. 

'  Secretary  van  Tienhoven,  in  1649,  describes  Montauk  Point  as 
' '  entirely  covered  with  trees,  somewhat  hilly  and  stoney,  very  conven- 
ient for  cod-fishing,  which  is  most  successfully  followed  by  the  natives 
during  the  season." 

*  Mather  calculates  that  a  thousand  tons  of  rock  are  daily  changing 
place  on  the  northern  shore,  and  that  an  equal  amount  is  taken  from 
the  fifteen  miles  of  the  Neapogue  Beach.  This  equals  in  volume  one 
square  rod,  fifty  feet  in  depth,  the  average  height  of  the  Montauk 
cliffs.  Thus  can  be  estimated  the  probable  future  of  the  unguarded 
coast. — State  Geological  Survey,  Part  I.,  p.  30. 


THE  SOUTH  SHORE.  2/ 

Coney  Island,  with  its  smooth  and  yearly  lessen- 
ing strand,  is  all  that  remains  of  the  sand  hills  where 
but  a  hundred  years  ago,  cedar  posts  were  cut  two 
miles  beyond  the  present  shore  line.' 

The  protecting  bars  of  the  South  Shore  are  lifted 
but  just  above  the  rolling  surf  and  are  smoothed 
by  every  in-coming  tide,  or,  beyond  its  reach  the 
sands  are  drifted,  white  and  fantastic  as  the  wreaths 
of  a  winter's  storm.  Farther  eastward  the  Shinne- 
cock  Hills '  assume  some  permanence  of  form,  held 
together  by  a  coarse,  wiry  grass,  but  sustaining  only 
the  stunted  bayberry,'  the  beach  plum,  and  the 
dwarfed  red  cedar. 

On  the  North  Side  a  score  of  "  Necks,"  with 
names  of  homely  significance,  rising  in  cliffs  from 
fifty  to  a  hundred  feet,  break  the  shore  line  of  Queens 
and  western  Suffolk.  Among  other  harbours  of 
historic  interest  are  Cow  Bay,  Hempstead  Harbour, 
Oyster  Bay,  and  Huntington  Bay,  while  from  Old- 
field  Point  and  Mount  Misery  the  shore  sweeps  in 
one  bold  curve  eastward  to  the  Oyster  Pond  Point, 
years  ago  an  island,  now,  by  the  continued  accretion 
of  sand,  a  spit  of  the  main  Island,  and  by  the 
euphemism  of  modern  nomenclature, — Orient  Point. 

Rising  above  Hempstead  Harbour,  and  equally 
distant  from    Huntington  Bay,  are    Harbour  Hill 

'  The  ocean  for  fifty  miles  south  of  Long  Island  is  very  shallow, 
nowhere  more  than  forty  fathoms  in  depth. 

^  With  an  average  height  of  over  one  hundred  feet. 

^Myrica  cerifera.  Throughout  the  Island  the  bayberry  or  candle- 
berry  was  of  recognised  value.  The  town  laws  of  Brookhaven,  in 
1687,  forbade  the  gathering  of  the  berries  before  September  15th, 
under  penalty  of  a  fine  of  fifteen  shillings. 


28  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

and  Oakley's  High  Hill-field.  The  two  dispute  the 
honour  of  being  the  highest  land  on  Long  Island, 
and  the  friends  of  each  maintain  its  greater  Altitude 
in  calm  disregard  of  theodolite  and  measuring  chain. 
But  the  United  States  Signal  Service  Survey  gives 
to  the  Oakley  Hill  the  greater  height— three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-four  feet."  As  one  leaves  the  vine- 
tangled  highway  through  West  Hill,  and,  in  shelter 
of  a  heavy  chestnut  wood,  drives  over  the  sparse 
grass  of  the  thin,  slippery  soil,  up  the  steep  ascent  to 
the  summit  of  this  "  High  Hill-field,"  a  magnificent 
view  bursts  upon  his  glad  vision.  From  Sound  to 
Ocean,  Long  Island  is  a  map  at  his  feet.  In  the 
clear  sunshine,  the  sea,  the  plains,  the  woodland,  the 
red-bronze  of  the  salt  marshes,  give  the  entire  chro- 
matic scale.  Peconic  Bay  is  a  great  sapphire  set  in 
beryl ;  the  Connecticut  hamlets  are  hazy  in  the 
north ;  the  blue  Sound  is  flecked  with  passing  sails, 
and  far  to  the  southward,  beyond  the  purple  rim  of 
ocean,  rises  the  faint  trail  of  smoke  from  an  incom- 
ing steamer. 

It  is  hard  to-day,  for  one  who  merely  skirts  the 
villa-studded  shores  of  Long  Island,  to  reconstruct 
the  scenes  of  two  hundred  years  ago,  or  to  guess 
how  sylvan  is  the  landscape,  how  primitive  are  still 
many  of  the  conditions  of  life,  but  a  mile  or  two  in- 
land.    One  may  drive  for  hours  through  embowered 

'  Styles's  History  of  Kings  County  gives  Harbour  Hill  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty-four  feet,  and  Jane  Hill  (the  Oakley  Hill)  three 
hundred  and  eighty-three  feet.  Blunt's  Pilot  gives  Harbour  Hill, 
visible  from  Sandy  Hook,  three  hundred  and  nineteen  feet,  the  same 
result  as  from  Dr.  S.  L.  Mitchell's  measurement  in  1816, 


LONG  ISLAND  FENCES.  29 

lanes,  between  thickets  of  alder  and  sumach,  over- 
hung with  chestnut  and  oak  and  pine,  or  through 
groves  gleaming  in  spring  with  the  white  bloom  of 
the  dogwood,  glowing  in  fall  with  liquidambar  and 
peperidge,  with  sassafras,  and  the  yellow  light  of 
the  smooth-shafted  tulip  tree.' 

The  farms  are -bordered  with  the  English  cherry 
which  has  become  naturalised  and  taken  to  the 
fields.  Everywhere  the  fences  are  whitened  in  April 
with  the  sweet  promise  of  its  early  blossoms.  In 
eastern  Suffolk  a  unique  form  of  hedgerow  is  com- 
mon, at  once  picturesque  and  distinctive.  It  is 
formed  by  cutting  down  the  oaks  or  chestnuts  leav- 
ing the  stumps  and  prone  bodies  of  the  trees  to 
form  a  line  of  rude  fence.  The  sprouts  are  then  al- 
lowed to  grow  up,  and  their  contorted  branches  in- 
terlaced with  blackberry  and  greenbriar  form  an 
impenetrable  barrier.  They,  in  their  turn,  are  cut 
and  re-cut,  until  the  hedge  becomes  several  feet  in 
thickness,  the  abode  of  singing  birds  and  of  the  more 
timid  marauders  of  the  field. 

Many  a  comfortable  old  farmhouse  is  shingled  to 
the  ground  with  cedar  shingles  bleached  by  the 
storms  of  a  hundred  winters,  and  shaded,  perhaps, 
by  the  very  locusts  which  Captain  John  Sands, 
husband  of  the  beautiful  Sibyl  Ray  of  Block  Island, 
first  brought  from  Virginia  to  Long  Island,  on  a 

'  Near  Success  Pond  was  a  tulip  tree  twenty-six  feet  in  girth,  so 
tall  as  to  be  a  landmark  to  boats  passing  through  the  Sound.  Many 
noteworthy  trees  are  still  standing.  On  the  Bryant  estate  at  Roslyn 
is  a  walnut  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  height  with  a  circumference 
of  thirty  feet.  At  Mattatuck  is  an  old  mulberry  of  twelve  feet  girth  ; 
at  Riverhead,  a  weeping  willow  twenty-one  feet  girth. 


30  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

return  voyage  of  his  coasting  schooner,  full  two  cen- 
turies ago.'  One  may  chance  upon  a  block  house," 
with  its  story  of  Indian  assault  or  Revolutionary 
struggle,  or  the  gaunt  windmills  of  the  Hamptons, 
or  beneath  venerable,  sheltering  willows,  such  a  rude 
moss-grown  mill  with  splashing  wheel,  as  Constable 
loved  to  paint. 

Beyond  Queens  County  the  main  ridge  trends  to 
the  northeast,  and  the  centre  of  the  Island  has  been 
until  very  lately,  for  fifty  miles  an  unbroken  wilder- 
ness, rich  in  game.  The  forest  growth, '  repeatedly 
destroyed  by  fire,  has  been  replaced  by  low,  gnarled 
oaks  *  which  have  given  to  the  tract  the  name  of  the 
Brush  Plains.  Above  the  yellow  soil  is  a  superficial 
layer  of  white  beach-sand,  through  which  struggles 
the  thickly  matted  bearberry,'  here  called  "  Deer- 
food."  Its  crimson  berries  and  evergreen  leaves  are 
in  winter,  almost  the  only  sustenance  of  the  deer 

'  Such  a  one  stands  in  the  grounds  of  Mr.  George  W.  Cocks  at 
Glen  Cove. 

''  The  Block  House  near  Herricks  was  built  during  the  Revolution 
by  one  Hoyt,  on  the  turnpike  not  far  from  Jericho.  It  was  intended 
as  a  storehouse  for  the  protection  of  the  property  of  the  WhigS. 

'  Early  Long  Island  was  thickly  wooded,  and  its  town  legislation 
showed  a  rare  wisdom  in  regard  to  the  preservation  of  its  trees.  In 
1653,  "  South  Old  resolved  that  no  persons  should  cut  trees  or  sell 
wood  from  the  common  lands,  without  the  towne's  libertie."  In 
1659,  Huntington  ordained  that  no  timber  should  be  cut  within  three 
miles  of  the  settlement  under  fine  of  five  shillings  for  every  tree. 
Ten  years  later  it  forbade  that  any  wood  be  cut  for  exportation,  or 
that  any  ' '  stranger  shall  cut  anie  timber. "  Oyster  Bay  and  Newtown 
passed  similar  regulations. 

*  Quercus  ilicifolia. 

^  Arctostafhylos  uva~ursi. 


THE  LONG  ISLAND  FLORA.  3 1 

which  in  diminished  number  still  haunt  their  ances- 
tral runs. 

In  open  plains  or  woodland,  in  mai'sh  or  glen, 
there  are  few  parts  of  Long  Island  which  do  not 
richly  reward  the  searcher  for  the  more  beautiful  and 
more  rare  of  our  native  plants ;  be  he  botanist,  or 
their  disinterested  lover.  Even  the  sweet  bay '  has 
wandered  northward  and  hides  in  a  forest  swamp 
near  Turtle  Pond.  In  early  spring  every  untilled 
spot  answers  the  first  warm  breezes  with  the  fragrance 
of  the  arbutus.  A  little  later  the  cistus  steals  the 
sunshine  for  its  fleeting  bloom  ;  the  sky  is  mirrored 
in  luxuriant  lupine  and  fields  of  blue-eyed  grass,  and 
Hempstead  Plains  outvie  the  heathery  English 
moors  with  the  rosy  bloom  of  the  most  beautiful  of 
the  andromedas. 

The  birds  are  very  numerous  and  include  many 
not  seen  elsewhere  in  New  York.'  Here  it  was  at 
Hempstead,  that  the  ornithologist  Blackburn  spent 
the  yiear  1773.  The  large  collections  which  he  made 
added  many  new  species  to  Pennant's  Arctic  Zoology 
then  preparing,  and  here  the  Blackburnian  Warbler 
still  carols  to  his  memory. 

Long  Island  is  no  fabled  Arcadia ;  but  there  are 
few  regions  of  its  extent  which  present  as  varied 
and  charming  scenery,  few  that  more  enthrall  the 
one  who  has  come  to  know  it  well.  It  may  be  that 
occult  sympathy  of  dust  for  dust  which  Hawthorne 

'  Magnolia  glauca. 

^  Fifty  years  ago,  DeKay's  enumeration  gave  to  Long  Island,  two 
thirds  the  land  birds  and  seven  eighths  the  water  birds  of  the  United 
States. 


32  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

found  in  Salem  which  makes  her  children  under 
whatever  skies,  feel  themselves  a  part  of  her  very 
soil.  Some  mysterious  power  there  is,  which  to  the 
tenth  generation  holds  their  fond  allegiance. 

A  consideration  of  the  continuous  geological 
changes  in  Long  Island,  renders  less  grotesque  the 
curious  outlines  of  its  early  maps,  where  indeed 
these  rude  cartographers  "  builded  better  than  they 
knew."  Jacobsen's  map,  made  for  the  West  India 
Company  in  1621,  gives  Long  Island  as  the  "  Ilant  de 
Gebrokne  Lant  a  group  of  six  islands,  the  largest 
being  to  the  eastward  and  called  Matouwacs.'  Still 
earlier  and  first  of  the  maps  specially  illustrative  of 
Nieuw  Nederlandt,  is  the  Figurative  Map  of  Cornells 
Hendricxsen.  This  map '  was  attached  to  a  Memorial 
praying  for  special  octroi,  addressed  to  the  States 
General,  August  18,  1616.  It  was  found  by  Mr. 
Brodhead,  fifty  years  ago,  in  "  'T  Locket-Kas,"  pre- 
served, but  forgotten,  in  the  Royal  Archives  at  the 
Hague.  The  chart  is  probably  based  upon  the 
rough  sketch  of  Adrian  Block  presented  two  years 
earlier,  and  to  the  discoveries  of  the  Onrust,  it  adds 
those  of  the  Fortune  under  its  schipper,  Hendricxsen. 
Rockaway  Inlet  and  Oyster  Bay  thereon  stretch 
from  Sound  to  Ocean,  making  three  distinct  islands, 
the  eastern  marked  as  Mohican. 

Champlain's  Map  of  1632  gives  to  Long  Island  a 
coast-line    absolutely  unbroken  by  inlet  or  bay,  and 

'  North  of  Matouwacs  is  an  arcliipelago.  Fisher's  Island  is  called 
Isla  Langa.  This  map  was  reproduced  in  De  Laet's  Novis  Orbis, 
edition  of  1630,  and  was  the  first  printed  map  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt. 

'  A  facsimile  is  in  the  State  Library  at  Albany.  See  also  New 
York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  i. 


Capo  M  olymP6.  33 

names  it  the  Isle  de  I'  Ascension.  In  Van  der 
Donck's  Map  of  Nova  Belgica,  1656,  which  is  an 
enlargement  of  the  earlier  chart  made  by  Visscher, 
Long  Island  appears  as  a  compact  mass  much  fore- 
shortened, with  only  the  Montauk  peninsula,  and  a 
few  vaguely  scattered  islands  indicating  the  trend  of 
the  northern  fork. 

Equally  interesting  are  the  various  outlines  and 
many  names  of  Long  Island  as  represented  on  the 
sixteenth  century  maps  of  the  world  at  large.  Ver- 
razano's  own  chart,  "  a  mighty  large  old  mappe  in 
parchement,"  now  lost,'  was  drawn  by  the  brother  of 
Giovanno  from  data  in  the  "Little  Book"  of  the"  ex- 
plorer. Long  Island  is  there  made  a  part  of  the 
mainland  and  called  Capo  di  Olympo.  In  Ribiera's 
chart  of  1529,  the  northern  hills  of  Long  Island  are 
indicated  as  "  Montana  vue,"  the  special  elevation 
being  probably  Harbour  Hill,  Hempstead,  which  is 
visible  far  out  to  sea.  In  1537  Oviedo  wrote  a 
description  of  the  country  based  on  Alonzo 
Chauves's  Map  of  1536,  which  by  order  of  Charles 
V.  was  drawn  from  official  charts  and  early  narra- 
tives. He  repeats  the  names  used  by  Ribiera,  and 
adds :  "  From  the  Rio  de  Sanct  Antonio,  the  coast 
runs  N.E.  one  fourth  East  forty  leagues  to  a  point  in 
front  of  the  Bay  of  Sanct  Johan  Baptisa  in  41°  30' 
north,"  an  error  of  but  one  degree  in  placing  Mon- 
tauk Point. 

Captain  John  Smith,  as  full  of  common-sense  as 
of  romantic  enthusiasm,  passes  summary  judgment 
on  all  these  early  maps :  ..."  I  have  had  six  or 
'  Seen  by  Hakluytin  1584. 


34  EAkL  y  lonC  island. 

seven  severall  plots  of  these  northern  parts  so  vnlike 
each  to  other,  or  resemblance  of  the  covntry,  as  they 
did  me  no  more  good  than  so  much  waste  paper, 
though  they  cost  me  more."  Of  more  trustworthy 
nature  were  the  carefully  drawn  surveys  of  Nieuvv 
Nederlandt  which  were  lost  at  sea  with  the  Director- 
General  Kieft,  in  the  wreck  of  the  Princess,  together 
with  his  many  specimens  of  the  minerals  and  plants 
of  the  Province. 

It  is  more  important  to  turn  from  these  crude  and 
half  imaginary  maps  to  the  narratives  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  explorers.  There  is  a  vivid  touch 
and-a  wholesome  honesty  about  these  casual  notes, 
which  are  most  praiseworthy  and  refreshing.  A 
passing  mention  of  geographical  position,  of  climate 
or  soil,  of  the  flora  or  of  the  fauna  of  a  country  from 
which  every  European  expected  only  marvels,  often 
throws  a  strong  light  upon  the  fading  picture  one 
seeks  to  restore.  It  will  then  help  to  reproduce 
these  early  days,  if  a  few  disconnected  extracts  are 
given,  bearing  upon  Long  Island. 

Johan  de  Laet,  a  distinguished  Director  of  the 
West  India  Company,  published  in  1624,  at  Ley- 
den,  in  black-letter  folio,  his  De  Novis  Orbis  or 
Description  of  the  West  Indies.  Compiled  from 
various  manuscript  journals  of  the  early  voyagers, 
of  Christiaensen,  Mey,  and  Block,  its  value  is  held 
equal  to  original  matter.  Appearing  in  both  Latin 
and  Dutch,  the  work  was  widely  read,  and  the  source 
of  the  most  definite  knowledge  then  possessed.  In 
Book  III.,  Chapter  V.,  approaching  the  Sound 
from  the  East,  he  tells  us  :  "  At  the  entrance  of  the 


MAN  ATI  ORE   LONG  ILE.  35 

Great  Bay  are  situated  several  islands,  or  broken 
land  on  which  a  nation  of  savages  have  their  abode, 
who  are  called  Matouvvacks :  they  obtain  a  livelihood 
by  fishing  within  the  bay,  whence  the  most  easterly 
point  of  land  received  the  name  of  Fisher's  Hook,' 
and  also  Cape  de  Baye.  This  Cape  and  Block 
Island  are  set  about  twelve  miles  apart." 

Forty  years  later,  in  the  Patent  to  James,  Duke  of 
York,  the  Island  is  thus  placed  :  "  All  that  Island  or 
Islands  commonly  called  by  the  severall  name  or 
names,  Matouwacks,  or  Long  Island,  scituate,  lying 
and  being  toward  the  West  of  Cape  Codd  and  the 
Narrow  Higansetts,  abutting  upon  the  Mainland." 

In  Earl  Strafford's  Letters  and  Despatches ''  is  a 
most  curious  pamphlet  written  in  the  interests  of 
Plowden's  aforementioned  "  Palatinate  of  New  Al- 
bion." If  regarded  as  a  specimen  of  a  seventeenth 
century  land-agent's  circular,  the  Munchausen 
flavour  of  certain  paragraphs  is  explained.  It  is 
quaintly  entitled 

THE 

COMMODITIES 

OF  THE   ILAND   CALLED 

MANATI'   ORE  LONG  ILE 

WHICH  IS  IN  THE 
CONTINENT  OF  VIRGINIA. 

^  Visscher's  Hoeck  (Montauk  Point)  was  really  named  after  the 
Dutch  schipper,  although  called  by  Block,  "  Beck  van  die  visschers." 
^  Public  Record  Office,  London  ;  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  vi.,  No.  61. 
^  Manati  signifies  island  in  certain  Indian  dialects. 


36  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

I. 
"  First  there  grow  naturally  store  of  Black  wild 
Vines  w'=''  make  verie  good  Vergies  or  Vinnuger  for 
to  use  w*  meate  or  to  dress  Sturgeon,  but  for  the 
Frenchman's  art  being  boyld  and  ordred  is  Good 
wine,  and  remains  for  three  moneths  and  no  longer. 

II. 
"  There  is  also  great  store  of  deere  there  and  of 
the  three  soarts,  the  highest,  sixteen  hands,  and 
there  is  also  Buffaloes  which  will  be  ridden  and 
brought  to  draw  and  plow.  There  are  fayre  Tur- 
keys far  greater  than  heere,  500  in  a  flocke  w'**  in- 
finite stores  of  Berries,  Chestnuts,  Beechnuts  and 
Mast  w'^''  they  feed  on. 

IV. 

"  Thears  Oacks  of  three  several  soarts  w'""  Ash 
and  Wallnut  trees,  Sweet  red  Ceadars  and  Pines, 
Fers  and  Deale  and  Sprace  for  mastes  of  shipping. 
All  excellent  Pudge  and  infinite  Pitch  and  tarr. 

V. 
"  Whole  Groves  of  Wallnuts.  Trees  to  make 
Wallnut  oyle  or  milke  in  Fraunce  worth  ;^20  a 
tunne.  Groves  of  Mulberrie  trees  for  silke  wormes 
which  in  Ittaly  are  lett  there  as  howses  are  heare 
for  rent  at  6/s  the  leaves  of  one  Tree  by  the  yeare. 

VII. 
"  Fitt  places  for  to  make  bay  salte  as  in  low  clay 
lands  as  thy  doe  in  Fraunce,  sooner,  because  hotter. 
.     .     .     There  are  Ponds  of  Fresh  Watter,  three  or 


THE  RICHES  OF  MANATI.  37 

four  miles  in  compass,  and  Clay  Cleefs  likely  for 
Iron  Mines.  There  is  infenite  store  of  Fowle  and 
egs  of  all  soarts  and  sea  and  shell  fish  in  abundance, 
and  1000  loade  of  oyster  shells  in  a  heape  to  make 
lime  of. 

"  The  spring  waters  theare  are  as  good  as  small 
beere  here,  but  those  that  come  from  the  woods  are 
not  as  good,  but  altogeather  naught." ' 

Captain  John  Underhill  after  describing  the  beau- 
tiful valley  of  the  Connecticut,  says  :  "  If  you  would 
know  the  garden  of  New  England,  then  you  must 
cast  your  eye  upon  Hudson's  River,  a  place  exceed- 
ing all  yet  named.  Long  Island  also  is  a  place 
worth  the  naming  and  affords  all  the  afforesaid 
accommodation." 

A  "  Description  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt,"  written 
in  1649,  preserved  in  the  Du  Simstiere  Manuscript, 
gives  not  only  appreciative  mention  of  Long  Island 
but  a  glimpse  at  the  state  of  its  up-growing  villages  : 
"  Long  Island,  which  by  its  fine  situation,  noble 
bays  and  havens,  as  well  as  by  its  fine  land,  may  be 
called  the  Crown  of  the  Province,  is  almost  entirely 
invaded  by  them  [the  English]  except  at  the  west- 
ern extremity  where  are  two  Dutch  villages, 
Breuckelen  and  Amersfoordt  which  are  not  of  much 
consequence  and  a  few  English  villages,  as  Grave- 
sant,  Greenwijck,  Mespat,  where  during  the  war 
the  owners  were  expelled,  and  since  confiscated 
by  Governor  Stuyvesant.     There  are  not  many  in- 

'  See  Higginson's  Short  and  True  Description  of  the  Commodities 
and  Discommodities  of  the  Country,  1629,  of  which  the  above  seems 
a  paraphrase. 


38  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

habitants  now.  Also,  Vlissingen,  a  fine  village  very 
well  stocked  with  cattle,  and  fourthly,  and  lastly, 
Heemsted,  better  than  the  others  and  very  rich  in 
cattle." 

In  1650  Cornells  van  Tienhoven,  Secretary  of  the 
Province,  published  for  the  benefit  of  intending  im- 
migrants, "  Information  relative  to  taking  up  land 
in  New  Netherland."  He  begins:  "At  the  most 
Easterly  corner  of  Long  Island,  being  a  point  situ- 
ate on  the  main  ocean  enclosing  within  to  the  west- 
ward, a  large  inland  sea  [Gardiner's  Bay]  adorned 
with  divers  fair  havens  and  bays  fit  for  all  sorts  of 
craft."  He  speaks  in  a  most  clear  and  practical 
manner  of  the  qualifications  of  settlers  and  their 
necessary  outfit,  of  the  soil  and  the  possibilities  of 
its  agricultural  development. 

Adraien  van  der  Donck,  one  of  the  most  learned 
of  the  Hollanders,  Doctor  of  the  Civil  and  of  the 
Canon  Laws,  came  to  Nieuw  Nederlandt  in  1642,  as 
Sheriff  of  Rensselaerwyck.  He  became  the  owner 
of  large  estates  and  was  identified  with  the  most  im- 
portant interests  of  the  young  colony.  After  his  re- 
turn to  Holland,  he  published  in  1656,  a  most 
interesting  "  Beschryving  van  Nieuw  Nederlandt." 

He  sums  up  his  estimate  of  the  wholesome  climate 
by  declaring  that  "  The  Galens  have  meagre  soup  in 
that  country."  He  specially  mentions  the  oysters 
of  which  he  has  "  seen  many  in  the  shell  a  foot  long 
and  broad  in  proportion,"  adding  that  their  price  per 
hundred  was  but  eight  or  ten  stivers."  He  speaks  of 
a  certain  "  bird  of  prey  which  has  a  head  like  the  head 
'  The  Dutch  stuyver  equalled  four  cents. 


BIRD   OR  BEE?  39 

of  a  large  cat,  and  its  feathers  are  alight  ash  colour." 
But  the  owl  does  not  interest  him  as  much  as  "  an- 
other small  curious  bird  concerning  which  there  are 
disputations  whether  it  is  a  bird,  or  a  large  West 
India  bee.  It  seeks  its  nourishment  from  flowers 
like  the  bee,  and  is  everywhere  seen  on  the  flowers 
regaling  itself.  It  is  only  seen  in  the  Nieuw  Ned- 
erlandt  in  the  season  of  flowers.  In  flying  they  also 
make  a  humming  noise  like  bees.'  They  are  very 
tender  and  cannot  well  be  kept  alive,  but  we  preserve 
them  between  paper,  dry  them  in  the  sun  and  send 
them  as  presents  to  our  friends."  Primitive  tax- 
idermy ! 

In  1644  there  was  published  at  London,  "  A  Short 
Discoverie  of  the  Coasts  and  Continent  of  America 
from  the  Equinoctiall  Northward,  and  of  the  Adja- 
cent Isles.  By  William  Castell,  Minister  of  the 
Gospell  at  Courtenhall  in  Northampstonshire." 
Long  Island  is  there  mentioned  as  an  "  Isle  Chris- 
tian of  good  note  for  store  of  timber  and  abundant 
fowle  and  fish.  .  .  .  Concerning  New  Nether- 
land's  convenient  temperature,  the  goodness  of  the 
soile,  or  commodities  which  either  sea  or  land  afford 
but  that  in  all  these  respects  it  differeth  not  much 
from  New-England,  only  in  these  four  things  must 
I  give  it  the  precedence,  viz.  that  the  land  in  general 
is  richer,  the  fields  more  fragrant  with  flowers,  the 
timber  larger  and  more  fit  for  building  and  shipping, 

'  ' '  The  Humbird  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  country,  being  no 
bigger  than  a  Hornet,  yet  having  all  the  Demensions  of  a  Bird,  as 
bill  and  wings  with  quills,  spider-like  legges,  small  claws.  For 
colour  she  is  glorious  as  the  Raine-bow." — William  Wood,  New- 
England's  Prospect. 


40  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

the  woods  fuller  of  Bevors  and  the  waters  of  salmon 
and  sturgeon." 

Daniel  Denton,  son  of  the  learned  and  Reverend 
Richard  Denton,  pastor  of  Hempstead,  published  in 
1670  "A  Brief  Description  of  New  York," '  which 
gives  with  great  accuracy  many  minute  details  of 
Long  Island,  and  more  particularly  of  his  own 
Hempstead. 

"  The  fruits  natural  to  the  Island  are  Mulberries' 
Posimons '  Grapes,  great  and  small.  Plumbs  of  sev- 
eral sorts  and  Strawberries  of  such  abundance,  that 
in  Spring  the  fields  and  woods  are  died  red  :  which 
the  Country  people  perceiving  instantly  arm  them- 
selves with  bottles  of  wine,  cream  and  sugar  and 
instead  of  a  coat  of  male  every  one  takes  a  Female 
upon  his  horse  behind  him  and  so  rushing  violently 
into  the  fields  never  leave  them  until  they  have  dis- 
robed them  of  their  red  colours. 

"  The  greatest  part  of  the  Island  is  very  full  of 
timber,  as  oaks  white  and  red,  walnut  trees,  chest- 
nut trees  which  yield  store  of  mast  for  swine,  as 
also  maples,  cedars,  sarsifrage.  Beach,  Holly,  Hazel 
with  many  more.  The  Herbs  which  the  country 
naturally  affords  are  Purslane,  white  Orage,'  Egri- 

'  A  Brief  Description  of  New  York,  formerly  New  Netherlands 
■with  the  Places  thereunto  Adjoining^  together  with  the  Manner  of  its 
Situation,  Fertility  of  the  Soyle  &■<:.  Printed  for  John  Hancock  at 
the  first  Shop  in  Pope's  Head  Alky  in  Cornhill  at  the  sign  of  the 
Three  Bibles. 

This  book  was  the  first  description  of  New  York  published  in 
England. 

'  Morus  rubra. 

°  The  persimmon  tree  still  lingers  on  Staten  Island  and  on  Bergen 
Point,  but  has  been  long  unknown  on  Long  Island, 

*  Atriplex  fatula  and  A.  arenaria. 


"STORE   OF  WHALES  AND   CRAMPASSES."      4I 

mony,  violets,  penniroyal,  Alicompane  besides  Sax- 
aparilla,  very  common,  with  many  more,  yea,  in 
May  you  should  see  the  Woods  and  Fields  so  curi- 
ously bedeckt  with  Roses  and  an  innumerable  mul- 
titude of  delightful  Flowers  not  only  pleasing  to  the 
eye  but  smell.  That  you  may  behold  Nature  con- 
tending with  Art  and  striving  to  equal  if  not  excel 
many  Gardens  in  England. 

"  There  are  divers  sorts  of  singing  birds  whose 
chirping  notes  salute  the  ears  of  Travellers  with 
harmonious  discord,  and  in  every  pond  and  brook 
green,  silken  Frogs  who  warbling  forth  their  untun'd 
tunes,  strive  to  bear  a  part  in  this  musicke. 

""On  the  South-side  of  Long  Island  in  winter  lie 
store  of  Whales  and  Crampasses  of  which  the  In- 
habitants begin  with  small  boats  to  make  a  trade, 
Catching  them  to  their  no  small  benefit.  Also  an 
innumerable  multitude  of  Seals  which  make  an  ex- 
cellent oyle.  They  lie  all  winter  upon  some  broken 
Marshes  and  Beaches,  or  bars  of  sand,  and  might  be 
easily  got  were  there  some  skillful  men  who  would 
undertake  it." 

Arnoldus  Montanus  published  at  Amsterdam  in 
1 67 1,  De  Nieuwe  en  Onbekende  Weerelde,  which  is 
to  some  extent  a  paraphrase  of  Van  der  Donck's 
earlier  Description  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  He  gives 
but  a  passing  mention  to  Long  Island,  saying  only  : 
"Among  the  rivers  is  the  Manhattan,  or  Great 
River,  by  far  the  most  important,  which  disem- 
bogues into  the  Ocean  by  two  wide  mouths  washing 
the  mighty  Island  of  Matouwacs."  The  book  is 
enlivened  by  grotesque  plates  representing  the  fauna 
of  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  among  which  are  great  elks 


42  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

and  a  huge  one-horned  horse,  while  cocoa-nut  palms 
are  clustered  in  the  background. 

About  the  same  time,  John  Josselyn,  Gentleman, 
in  An  Account  of  Two  Voyages  in  New-England, 
thus  describes  the  country :  "  From  Connecticut 
River  Long  Island  stretches  itself  to  Mohegan,'  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles,  but  it  is  narrow  and 
about  sixteen  miles  from  the  main :  the  considera- 
blest  town  upon  it  is  Southampton  built  on  the 
Southside  of  the  Island  toward  the  Eastern  end : 
opposite  to  this  on  the  Northern  side  is  Feversham," 
Westward  is  Ashford,'  Huntington  &c.  The  Island 
is  well  stored  with  sheep  and  other  Cattle  and  corn, 
and  is  reasonably  populous." 

The  Chaplain  at  Fort  James  in  1678-9,  was  the 
Reverend  Charles  Wolley.  His  brief  residence  in 
the  city  was  comforted  by  the  excellence  of  the 
Madeira  in  official  circles.  Twenty  years  later  he 
records  his  impression  in  a  "Two  Years'  Journey  in 
New  York  and  Part  of  its  Territories  in  America." ' 
He  pronounces  the  climate  one  "  of  sweet  and  whole- 
some breath.  ...  A  hilly,  woody  country  full 
of  Lakes  and  great  vallies  which  receptacles  are 
nurseries,  Forges  and  Bellows  of  the  air,"  and 
then  follow  many  curious  meteorological  specula- 
tions. 

In    1678-9  Long  Island    was   visited  by   Jasper 

'Montauk  Point. 
^  Bridgehampton. 
^  Setauket. 

^  "  Printed  for  John  Wyatt  at  the  Rose  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard, 
and  Eben  Tracy  at  the  Three  Bibles  on  London  Bridge,  1701." 


THE  VISIT  OF  THE  LABADISTS.  43 

Bankers  and  Peter  Sluytef,'  who  kept  a  minute 
"  Journal  of  our  Voyage  to  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  be- 
gun in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  for  His  Glory." 
After  the  tedious  voyage  of  that  age,  they  at  length 
enter  the  Narrows,  and  write, — "  As  soon  as  you  be- 
gin to  approach  the  land,  you  see  not  only  woods, 
hills,  dales,  green  fields  and  plantations,  but  the 
houses  and  dwellings  of  the  inhabitants  which  afford 
a  cheerful  prospect." 

The  travellers  received  much  genial  hospitality 
in  their  leisurely  progress  among  the  pleasant 
bouweries  of  Nieuw  Utrecht  and  Amersfoordt  and 
Breuckelen.  They  dilate  upon  the  Gowanus  oysters, 
"  large  and  full,  some  of  them  not  less  than  a  foot 
long,"  and  greatly  enjoy  the  melons  and  peaches, — 
"  very  fine  peaches  which  filled  our  hearts  with 
thankfulness,"  while  "  the  trees  were  so  laden  with 
peaches  and  other  fruit,  one  might  wonder  whether 
there  were  more  fruit  or  leaves." 

'  These  devout  men,  natives  of  Frieslandt,  were  the  emissaries  of 
the  Labadists,  a.  sect  founded  in  Zealand  by  Jean  de  Labadie.  A 
native  of  Bordeaux,  educated  as  a  Jesuit  priest,  the  eloquence  of  this 
accomplished  man  vfon,  as  disciples,  many  women  of  noble  birth.  A 
settlement  had  been  attempted  at  Surinam,  but  was  soon  abandoned. 
Bankers  and  Sluyter  were  then  sent  to  seek  a  suitable  spot  within  the 
former  limits  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  They  did  not  gain  many  ad- 
herents in  New  York,  but  found  one  zealous  friend  in  Ephraim  Her- 
manns, son  of  Augustyn  Hermanns,  whose  manor  of  Bohemia 
extended  over  five  thousand  acres  between  the  Elk  and  the  Delaware 
Rivers.  He  gave  them  a  tract  of  three  or  four  thousand  acres  in 
Delaware.  There  a  colony  was  begun,  but  its  inspiration  was  lost 
after  the  death  in  1722  of  Dankers,  its  leading  spirit.  It  quickly 
dispersed,  and  soon  the  name  and  faith  of  the  Labadists,  alike,  were 
lost. 


44  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

In  1759  the  Reverend  Andrew  Burnaby  in  his 
"Travels  in  the  Middle  Settlements  of  North 
America,"  writes  as  follows : 

"  The  soil  of  most  parts  is  extremely  good,  parti- 
cularly in  Long  Island.  It  affords  grain  of  all  sorts, 
and  a  great  variety  of  English  fruits,  particularly  the 
New-town  pippin.  "  Before  I  left,  I  took  a  ride 
upon  Long  Island,  the  richest  spot  in  the  opinion 
of  New  Yorkers  in  all  America,  and  where  they 
generally  have  their  villas,  or  country  seats.  It  is 
indescribably  beautiful  and  some  parts  of  it  ex- 
tremely fertile.  About  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles  from 
the  west  end  is  a  large  plain  between  twenty  and 
thirty  miles  long,  and  four  or  five  broad.  There  is 
not  a  tree  grows  upon  it,  and  it  is  asserted  there 
never  were  any.  Strangers  are  always  carried  to  see 
this  place  as  a  great  curiosity,  and  the  only  one  of  the 
kind  in  North  America." 

Twenty  years  later,  when  the  dark  cloud  of  war 
overshadowed  the  land,  a  young  Englishman  in  the 
Coldstream  Guards,'  wrote  to  his  friends  at  home, 
after  his  arrival  in  the  army  of  occupation  :  "  New 
York  Island  is  much  inferior  to  Long  Island  in  fer- 
tihty  and  beauty.  Long  Island  is  a  beautiful  spot, 
the  soil  very  good,  plenty  of  game,  and  everything 
a  fine  country  can  afford.  In  time  of  peace  it  must 
be  a  perfect  Paradise." 

'  George  Matthews,  under  date  August  4,  1779. 


III. 


THE  INDIANS  ON -LONG  ISLAND. 

THE  Island  which  under  many  names  and  diverse 
flags  was  to  bear  so  significant  a  part  in  the 
stirring  drama  of  American  colonisation  had 
been  not  less  a  disputed  possession  among  con- 
tending Indians.  The  Atlantic  border  of  the  United 
States  was  inhabited  by  the  great  Lenni-Lenape ' 
race,  divided  into  many  tribes  and  clans.  Of  these, 
the  Mohicans  were  at  once  the  most  powerful,  and 
the  most  amenable  to  civilisation.  Before  the  influ- 
ence of  the  European  settlements,  many  of  the 
tribes  had  advanced  from  savagery  to  at  least  the 
first  stage  of  barbarism. 

The  Indians  of  Long  Island  were  a  seafaring 
race,  mild  in  temperament,  diligent  in  the  pursuits 
determined  by  their  environment,  skilled  in  manage- 

'  The  Lenni-Lenapi,  or  "  Original  People,"  believed  themselves 
auctothones.  Among  them  the  Algonquin,  or  "  Men  of  the  East," 
who  included  the  Long  Island  Indians,  were  called  the  "  Eldest 
Sons  of  their  Grandfather." 

45 


46  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

ment  of  canoe,'  of  seine,  or  spear,°  and  dextrous  in 
the  making  of  seawan,  or  wampum.  From  the 
pyrula  and  scallop  shells  strewing  the  smooth  shores 
of  the  Great  South  Bay,  and  the  hundred  indenta- 
tions of  its  coast,  Long  Island  received  its  name  of 
Seawanhacky,'  or  Land  of  Shells,  the  name  used  by 
the  Indians  of  the  mainland  in  preference  to  the 
Matouwacks  recorded  in  early  maps  and  narratives, 
or  the  rarer  Paumanacke.* 

The  Indian  tribes  were  not  well  differentiated  by 
the  first  historians  of  the  New  World,  and  their 
carelessness  has  made  any  exact  classification  since 
impossible.  Names  of  persons  and  places  are  dupli- 
cated, or  used  in  direct  contradiction,  and  one  can 
but  collect  and  collate,  rather  than  determine  the 
value  of  any  early  names. 

'  Their  canoes  were  often  of  great  size  and  admirable  workman- 
ship. John  Winthrop  writes  in  his  Journal,  October  2,  1633  :  "  The 
Bark  Blessing  which  was  sent  to  the  southward  returned.  She  had 
been  at  an  Island  over  against  Connecticot  which  is  called  Long 
Island,  because  it  is  near  fifty  leagues  long.  The  east  part  is  about 
ten  leagues  from  the  main,  but  the  west  end  not  a  mile.  There  they 
had  great  store  of  the  best  Wampumpeak  both  white  and  blue.  They 
have  many  canoes,  so  great  as  one  will  carry  eighty  men." — History 
of  New  England,  vol.  i.,  p.  133. 

*  The  spearing  of  fish  was  done  by  torchlight,  a  process  called 
"  wigwass." 

'  Or,  more  seldom,  Womponomon,  a  name  of  the  same  meaning. 

*  Paumanacke  appears  in  the  Indian  Deed  to  Easthampton,  1648. 
William  Hubbard,  Minister  of  Ipswick,  in  his  History  of  New  Eng- 
land, 1677,  gives  the  spelling,  Matamwacke.  It  is  also  written 
Matamwacks,  Matouwacke,  Matouwax,  and,  by  Van  der  Donck, 
Metodac.  The  name  has  been  fitly  analysed  as  Matan,  very  good, 
and  acke,  place,  or  land,  an  etymology  which  confirms  itself.  Roger 
Williams  gives  the  name  as  Meteanhock,  meaning  periwinkle. 


THE  MANHATTANS.  47 

Adrian  Block  tells  us  that  he  was  sheltered  and 
fed  by  "the  Manhattans  of  Long  Island."  De 
Razieres  says  of  Long  Island  in  1627  that  it  is  "  in- 
habited by  the  old  Manhattans."  Van  der  Donck 
writes :  "  With  the  Manhattans  we  include  those 
who  live  in  the  neighbouring  places,  along  the  North 
River,  on  Long  Island  and  at  the  Neversinks."  But 
we  must  remember  that  the  Indian  Manhattan  was 
no  tribal  designation,  but  a  descriptive  term  express- 
ing supreme  excellence.' 

More  than  a  dozen  tribes  have  left  their  names 
scattered  over  the  Island,  but  until  conquered  by 
the  dreaded  Pequots,"  the  Montauks  were  perhaps 
the  most  powerful  of  them  all.  Though  exercising 
no  exact  hegemony,  many  of  the  sub-tribes,  or 
clans,  were  in  a  measure  subject  to  them.  As  the 
natives  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  island  were  tribu- 
tary to  the  Connecticut  Indians,  so  were  those  of 
the  western  to  the  Iroquois  of  the  Hudson  River,  a 
tribute  partly  paid  in  dried  clams.  After  the  settle- 
ment of  Nieuw  Amsterdam,  the  Dutch  persuaded 
the  Canarsies  to  forego  this  payment,  an  omission 
which  brought  upon  the  doomed  race  many  a  mur- 
derous raid  from  the  powerful  Mohawks.  After  the 
Pequot  War,  the   Montauks  transferred  their  alle- 

'  The  best  received  etymology,  as  opposed  even  to  Schoolcraft's 
Mon-a-tan,  "  People  of  the  Whirlpool,"  and  the  frequent  reference 
of  Monados — Manatoes — to  the  Spanish  Moiiados,  Drunken  Men, 
in  reference  to  the  carousals  at  Hudson's  visit. 

^ ' '  The  insolent  and  barbarous  nation  called  the  Pequots. " — Cap- 
tain. John  Underbill,  in  Nevves  from  America. 

"A  more  fierce  and  cruel  and  virarlike  people  than  the  rest  of  the 
Indians."— Hubbard's  Indian  Wars. 


48  HAkL  V  LONG  ISLAND. 

giance  to  the  victorious  English,  paying  them  the 
same  tribute  and  claiming  their  protection.' 

As  far  as  can  be  determined,  the  chief  tribes  were 
established  nearly  as  follows  :  In  the  southwest  part 
of  the  island  the  Canarsies  spread  over  Kings  County 
and  a  part  of  Jamaica,  with  their  centre  near  Flat- 
lands.  The  Rockaway  Indians  belonged  to  Hemp- 
stead Plains,  scattered  over  both  the  Great  and  the 
Little  Plains,  and  extending  northwest  into  New- 
town, where  the  Mespat  Indians  were  a  branch  of 
the  same  tribe.  Their  name,  in  many  old  deeds 
given  as  Rechquaakie,  is  a  corruption  of  Rokana- 
wahaka, — "Our  Place  of  the  Laughing  Waters." 
The  Merikoke,  or  Meroke,  were  along  the  shore 
from  Rockaway  to  South  Oyster  Bay,  and  their 
name  survives  in  the  hamlet  of  Merricks. 

The  Massapequas  extended  from  Fort  Neck  east- 
ward to  Islip.  Under  constant  fear  of  attack  from 
their  more  warlike  neighbours,  the  Indians  at  each 
end  of  the  Island  had  built  at  Fort  Neck,  and  at 
Fort  Pond,  or  Konkhongauk,  a  place  of  refuge  capa- 
ble of  holding  five  hundred  men.  The  stronghold 
of   the  Massapequas  was  demolished    in   1653,  by 

'  August,  1637,  Richard  Davenport  writes  to  John  Winthrop  : 
"Capt.  Stoughton  is  gone  a  weeke  since  to  Coneticutt  Plantations  & 
I  heare  that  the  Sachem  of  Long  Island  doe  now  wayt  for  him  with 
their  tribute  at  the  river-mouth." — Massachusetts  Hist.  Coll.,  Series 
v.,  vol.  i.,  p.  249. 

July  3, 1638,  Roger  Ludlow,  first  Deputy  Governor  of  Connecticut, 
writes  to  John  Winthrop  :  "  The  Indians  of  Longe  Island  are  tribu- 
taries to  yo'selues  and  vs,  by  agree"',  vnder  hand  made  by  Capt. 
Stoughton  the  last  suilier  :  they  are  to  paye  twee  pts  to  your  one  pt 
to  vs." — Ibid.,  p.  261. 


t)tSTRlBUT10N  OP  TRIBES.  49 

Captain  John  Underbill,  in  the  only  great  Indian 
battle  ever  fought  on  Long  Island.  Until  very 
lately  the  remains  of  a  quadrangular  structure,  its 
sides  ninety  feet  in  length,  were  distinctly  to  be 
traced.  In  the  Bay  near  by,  is  Squaw  Island,  where 
the  women  and  children  were  sent  during  the  battle. 
Earthworks  enclosing  nearly  an  acre,  where  was  the 
burial-ground  of  the  chieftains,  may  also  be  traced 
about  Fort  Pond,  although  the  site  of  the  fort  is 
obscured  by  forest  growth. 

The  Patchogue  (Porchaug)  and  the  Shinnecock 
Indians,  though  with  no  well-defined  territorial 
limits,  belong  to  the  South  Shore,  from  Islip  to 
Easthampton.  Canoe  Place— Merosuck,'  was  the 
portage  between  the  Great  Peconic  and  the  Shinne- 
cock Bays,  a  narrow  isthmus,  formerly  the  open 
channel  between  two  adjacent  islands  of  the  once 
"  Gebrokne  Landt."  Beyond  them  were  the  Mon- 
tauks,"  of  whom,  and  of  the  Shinnecocks,  a  poor 
remnant  still  remains. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  island  the  Martinecocks 
extended  along  the  Sound  from  Newtown  to  Smith- 
town,  but  even  before  European  intrusion,  the  tribe 

'  Traces  still  remain  of  the  canal  opened  by  Mpngotucksee — Long 
Knife,  Chief  of  the  Mohawks. 

^  Montauk  is  sometimes  wrongly  considered  a  corruption  of  Matou- 
wacks.  It  has  also  been  referred  to  Miniuck,  a  tree,  as  the  region 
was  once  thickly  wooded.  Its  original  form  was  Montaukelt,  eit  being 
a  common  Algonquin  suffix.  It  is  not  a  tribal  name,  but  purely 
topographical.  Our  highest  Indian  authority,  the  scholarly  Mr. 
Trumbull,  gives  it  as  a  form  of  Manatuck,  which  throughout  New 
England  means  a  "  Lookout,"  or  high  point  of  land.  In  the  Indian 
deed  to  Theophilus  Eaton  and  Edward  Hopkins,  April  29,  1648,  the 
grant  of  Easthampton  is  to  the  "  East  side  of  Mountacutt  high-land." 
4 


50  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

was  greatly  reduced.  In  1650  Secretary  van  Tien- 
hoven  reported  but  fifty  families  left  of  this  once 
powerful  clan.  The  Nessaquagues  were  between 
Stony  Brook  and  the  beautiful  tidal  river  which  still 
retains  their  name.  The  Setaukets  (Sealtacots) 
spread  over  the  hills  and  dells  of  northern  Brook- 
haven  ;  eastward  were  the  Corchaug,  a  name  per- 
verted into  Cutchogue,  and  on  Shelter  Island  the 
Manhasset  tribe  was  established. 

As  has  been  said,  Seawanhacky  was  the  great 
centre  of  wampum-making.  Wampum  was  the  com- 
mon currency  of  the  Indians  east  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  superior  excellence  of  that  made  on  Long 
Island  is  more  than  once  mentioned  in  Winthrop's 
Journal.  The  black  wampum,  or,  suckahock  was 
made  from  the  purple  part  of  the  quahaug  shell,' 
and  was  twice  the  value  of  the  white  metahock,  one 
bead  of  which  was  the  equivalent  of  an  English 
farthing.  Chaplain  Wolley,  already  quoted,  speaks 
of  the  "  wampum,  or  seawant,  made  of  a  kind  of 
cockle,  or  periwinkle,  of  which  there  is  scarce  any 
but  at  Oyster  Bay."  This  is  a  false  limitation,  for 
on  the  northern  shores  of  the  Sound,  the  nearly 
allied  Narragansetts  had  been  for  fifty  years  busy  in 
its  manufacture." 

'  The  quahaug,  or  whelk,  was  the  Buccinum  undulatum.  As  that 
became  rare,  the  common  clam,  Venus  mercenaria,  was  used.  The 
white  wampum  was  made  from  the  periwinkle,  Turbo  littoreus.  The 
heads  were  from  three  sixteenths  to  three  eighths  of  an  inch  in 
length,  and  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness. 

°  William  Wood  speaks  of  the  Narragansetts  as  "  curious  minters 
of  wompompeage  which  they  formed  out  of  the  inmost  wreaths  of 
periwinkle  shels.  The  Northerne,  Easterne,  and  Westerue  Indians 
fetche  all  their  Coyne  from  these  Southerne  Mint-Masters." 


WAMPUM  MAKING.  %\ 

Wampum  was  introduced  into  New  England,  in 
1627,  by  Isaac  de  Raziferes  Ambassador  from  Nieuw 
Nederlandt  to  Governor  Winslow.  Hubbard  con- 
sidered its  use  the  immediate  cause  of  the  Indian 
wars,  and  regarded  it  as  the  direct  root  of  all  evil. 

In  1641  a  city  ordinance  of  the  Director-General 
Kieft  deplores  the  depreciation  of  this  primitive 
currency :  "  A  great  deal  of  bad  seawant,  nasty 
rough  things  imported  from  other  places,"  was  in 
circulation,  while  "  the  good,  splendid  Seawant  was 
out  of  sight,  or  exported,"  which  must  cause  the 
ruin  of  the  country.  A  little  later,  Secretary  van 
Tienhoven  writes  of  Montauk '  Point  as  "  well 
adapted  to  secure  the  trade  in  wampum,  the  mine 
of  Nieuw  Nederlandt,"  since,  "  in  and  about  the 
large  inland  sea  lie  cockles  whereof  wampum  is 
made,  from  which  great  profit  could  be  realised  by 
those  who  would  thereby  plant  a  colony,  or  hamlet 
on  the  aforesaid  hook."  Wampum  continued  to  be 
used  by  even  the  Dutch  and  English  throughout  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  was  the  great  medium  of 
exchange  in  the  fur  trade  with  the  Iroquois.  It  was 
made  on  Long  Island  for  exportation  to  the  far 
West,  until  1830,  or  later. 

It  is  never  an  inspiring  subject,  nor  conducive  to 
complacent  pride  of  race,  to  consider  our  dealings 
with  the  aborigines,  be  it  in  those  ancestral  days,  or 
in  the  present  "  Century  of  Dishonour."  The  Long 
Island  Indians  seem  to  have  given  as  much  for  as 
little,  as  any  of  their  brethren,  while  the  one 
inference  from  old  records  and  traditions,  points  to 
1  In  his  Bedenckinge  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  written  in  1650. 


52  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

their  harmless  character  and  friendly  relations  with 
the  new-comers,  unless  when  goaded  to  self-defence, 
or,  frenzied  by  the  fire-water  of  the  Europeans. 

There  is  much  early  legislation  on  this  matter  and 
the  settlers  finally  learned  the  evil  they  had  wrought. 
The  subjoined  extract  from  the  yellowed  pages  of 
the  old  Town-Book  of  Jamaica,  may  be  the  first 
prohibition  law.  It  is  one  of  many  similar  enact- 
ments in  the  several  towns  under  both  English  and 
Dutch  jurisdiction. 

"  Febv  ye  27.  1658. 

"  This  day  voted  and  agreed  upon  by  this  town  of 
Rusdorp  that  noe  person  or  persons  whatsoever,  shall 
sell,  or  give,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  any  Indian, 
or  Indians  whatsoever,  within  or  about  ye  saide 
town  of  Rusdorp,  any  stronge  licker  or  stronge 
drinke  whatsoever,  either  much  or  little,  more  or 
lesse,  under  forfeit  of  fifty  guilders'  for  every 
offense." 

The  bargains  made  with  the  Indians,  here,  as  else- 
where, were  absurdly,  often  piteously,  one-sided. 
The  land  transfers  would  seem  a  mere  farce  were  there 
not  involved  a  more  serious,  an  almost  tragical, 
element.  One's  blood  may  well  tingle  as  he  looks 
over  some  musty  parchment  signed  with  curious 
hieroglyphics,  the  marks  of  a  Tackapousha,"  or  a 
Wantagh,"  in  which  domains  greater  than  an  English 
dukedom,  or  a  German  principality,  are  alienated  for 
a  mere  mess  of  pottage.     In  the  deed  for  the  south 

'  The  guilders  of  Holland  equalled  forty  cents.. 
'  Sachem  of  the  Massapequas. 
'  Sachem  of  the  Merokes. 


PECULIAR  PERILS.  S3 

part  of  the  town  of  Oyster  Bay,  the  Indians  reserve 
the  privilege  of  "  hunting  and  gathering  huckle- 
berries as  they  shall  see  cause."  It  is  to  be  hoped 
they  were  unmolested  in  the  enjoyment  of  these 
inherited  and  natural  rights.  In  the  last  Indian 
grant  made  in  Flushing,  the  sachem  claims  for  his 
tribe  the  right  of  cutting  bulrushes  "  for  ever." 
Even  the  good  knight  Lion  Gardiner  felt  he  was  pay 
ing  an  honest  price  for  his  island  manor  when  he 
bought  it  of  Wyandanch  for  "  one  large  black  dog, 
one  gun,  some  powder  and  shot,  some  rum  and  a 
pair  of  blankets."  Th£  transaction  was  no  doubt 
mutually  satisfactory,  for  the  sachem  remained  his 
firm  friend,  and  after  Gardiner's  chivalrous  rescue  of 
his  daughter,"  Wyandanch's  gratitude  expressed  it- 
self in  the  gift  of  nearly  the  entire  territory  which  was 
later  known  as  Smithfield,  and  finally  as  Smithtown. 
The  Long  Island  Indians  were  between  the  upper 
and  the  nether  millstone  of  the  more  warlike  tribes 
of  Connecticut  and  of  the  Hudson  Valley.  Any 
hostile  action  always  could  be  traced  to  outside  in- 
fluence. Nor  were  the  Dutch  always  as  unaggres- 
sive as  might  be  expected  from  their  superficial 
stolon  During  the  administration  of  the  Director- 
General  Kieft,  ai  man  at  once  timid  and  cruel,  mak- 
ing the  usual  use  of  a  little  brief  authority,  both  the 
settlers  and  the  Indians  were  irritated  to  the  last 
degree.  It  is  undeniable  that  in  every  case  the 
Indian  difficulties  were  precipitated,  directly  or 
indirectly,  by  him. 

1  Wuchikittawbut,  stolen  on  her  wedding  day  by  Nioigret,  Chief  of 
the  Narragansetts. 


54  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

A  series  of  onslaughts  were  begun,  which  could 
not  be  at  once  controlled  even  by  the  firm  rule  of 
Peter  Stuyvesant,  who,  loth  to  let  the  sword  which 
had  done  good  work  at  St.  Martin's,  rust  in  its  scab- 
bard, and  ever  ready  to  fight  intruding  English  or 
Swedes,  was  always  considerate  towards  the  Indians. 
Thiswise  forbearance  subjected  him  to  much  malig- 
nant misinterpretation.  Writing  of  the  Indian  mas- 
sacres, the  Clarendon  Papers  accuse  him  of  having 
"  hired  the  Mohocks  and  other  Highland  Indians  to 
Cut  off  and  Massacre  all  the  English  that  were  in 
those  Pt=^.  So  the  English  that  were  vppon  the 
Pt=  of  Long  Isl :  Which  hee  claimed  to  be  vnder 
his  gouerm^  were  necessitated  all  of  them  to  leave 
their  labours  and  to  stand  vppon  their  guardes  day 
&  night  for  fear  of  being  exposed  to  barbarous  cru- 
eltie,  or  Dutch  treacherie." 

After  the  ruthless  slaughter  at  Pavonia,  there  was 
a  general  uprising  of  avenging  tribes  from  the  Rari- 
tan  to  the  Housatonic.  With  them  were  the  here- 
tofore friendly  Mespat  Indians  of  the  North  Side, 
already  threatened  by  the  Dutch.  "  The  Christians 
residing  upon  Long  Island  "  then  petitioned '  to  be 
allowed  to  "  Attack  and  slay  the  Indians  there- 
about, which  was  refused,  "  as  these  especially  have 
done  us  no  harm  and  shewed  us  every  friendship." 
The  attack  upon  Mespat  Kills  followed,  breaking 
up  and  scattering  the  first  settlement  within  the 
bounds  of  Newtown. 

Roger  Williams,  coming  to  Nieuw  Amsterdam  to 
take  ship  for  England,  brought  about  a  friendly 
conference  at  Rockaway.  Three  hundred  warriors 
'  February  27,  1643. 


VAN  DER  HYL'S  CAMPAIGN.  55 

and  sixteen  chiefs,  under  the  lead  of  Pennawitz, 
sachem  of  the  Canarsies,  there  met  the  Dutch 
commissioners  in  solemn  powwow.  The  Dutch 
spokesman,  De  Vries,  invited  the  Indians  to  Fort 
Amsterdam,  where  a  treaty  was  concluded,  March 
25,  1643.  It  was  quite  time  for  peace,  but  the  truce 
was  brief.  Six  months  later  "  The  Eight  Men  "  of 
Heemstede  addressed  the  States  General,  saying : 
"  Long  Island  is  destitute  of  Inhabitants  and  stock 
except  a  few  unimportant  places  over  against  the 
main  which  are  about  to  be  abandoned." 

The  Dutch,  now  thoroughly  aroused,  went  against 
the  Canarsies  with  the  avowed  purpose  to  extermi- 
nate the  tribe.  As  leader  of  the  force  was  their 
new  captain,  John  Underhill,  the  Van  der  Hyl  of 
the  Dutch  records.  One  hundred  and  twenty  In- 
dian braves  were  killed,  palisaded  forts  torn  down, 
maize  fields  destroyed,  villages  desolated.  Yet, 
when  a  few  years  later,  in  a  hostile  league  of  the 
New  Jersey  and  the  River  Indians  against  Nieuw 
Amsterdam,  a  war  party  crossed  to  Gravesend  and 
threatened  the  English  villages,  the  Canarsies,  with 
rare  magnanimity,  refused  to  join  them. 

Their  good  faith  availed  little  for  the  doomed  race. 
In  1671,  Daniel  Denton  writes  of  their  decrease  with 
pious  exultation :  "  Since  my  time  there  were  six 
towns  now  reduced  to  two  small  villages,  and  it 
hath  been  generally  observed  that  where  the  Eng- 
lish came  to  settle,  a  Divine  Hand  makes  way  for 
them,  by  cutting  off  the  Indians  either  by  wars  one 
with  the  other,  or  by  some  raging  mortal  disease."  ' 

'  In  1658  nearly  one  half  the  Montauk  tribe  perished  from  small- 
pox. 


56  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

On  the  death  of  Wyandanch,  in  1659,  the  Mon- 
tauks  became  for  a  time  tributary  to  the  Narragan- 
setts.'  After  a  century  of  varying  fortunes,  the 
tribe  gradually  wasting  away,  in  1764  a  petition  is 
addressed  to  Lieutenant-Governor  Golden  by  Silas 
Gharles,  "  In  behalf  of  himself  and  the  Montauk 
Tribe  of  Indians."  After  recalling  the  generous 
grants  made  to  the  Enghsh  by  his  ancestors,  the 
memorial  goes  on  :  "  Of  late  years,  these  Indians 
have  discontinued  their  ancient  Barbarous  way  of 
living  and  have  become  not  only  civilised  but  Ghris- 
tianised,  and  are  peaceable  and  orderly,  and  are  will- 
ing to  behave  as  good  subjects  to  his  Majesty,  King 
George,  the  third,  and  his  heirs  and  successors,  to 
do  the  Dutys,  bear  the  Burdens  and  be  intitled  to 
the  Rights  and  Privileges  of  faithful  Subjects. 

"  That  such  a  Change  of  Manners,  as  it  exposes 
them  to  a  life  of  Labour  must  introduce  an  at- 
tachment to  Property  without  which  they  cannot 
subsist. 

"  That  they  are  exposed  to,  and  suffer  great  In- 
convenience from  the  Contempt  shown  to  the 
Indian  Tribes  by  their  English  Neighbours  at  East- 
Hampton,  who  deny  them  necessary  Fuel,  and  con- 
tinually encroach  upon  their  Occupations  by  fencing 
in  more  and  more  of  the  Indians'  Lands  under  Pre- 
tence of  Sale  made  by  their  Ancestors. 

"  That  your  Petitioner  and  his  Associates  are  in 
Danger  of  being  crowded  out  of  all  their  Ancient 

'  Roger  Williams  refers  the  trouble  between  these  tribes  to  the 
pride  of  the  rival  sachems  :  "He  of  Montaukett  was  proud  and 
foolish, — ^he  of  Narragansett  was  proud  and  fierce." 


A   MONTAUK  PETITION.  57 

Inheritance,  and  of  being  rendered  Vagabonds  upon 
the  Face  of  the  Earth." 

Thus  it  proceeds.  An  appeal  is  made  to  the 
justice  of  the  Crown,  to  confirm  to  them  all  unsold 
lands  between  Sag  Harbour  and  Montauk  Point. 
The  Attorney  General,  John  Tabor  Kempe,  made  a 
temporising  answer,  and  the  Indians  are  advised  by 
the  Council  to  apply  to  the  Court  of  Chancery !  It 
is  a  typical  story. 

Early  in  the  settlement  of  the  Colony  various 
efforts  had  been  made  for  the  uplifting  of  the 
Indians.  At  the  beginning  of  his  administration. 
Lord  Lovelace  had  imported  a  printing  press  to 
publish  a  catechism  and  some  chapters  of  the  Bible, 
translated  into  the  Montauk  tongue  by  the  Rever- 
end Thomas  James,  first  minister  of  Easthampton. 
About  1740  the  Reverend  Azariah  Horton,  came 
to  the  Montauks,  as  a  Missioner  from  Connecticut. 
He  made  many  converts  but  complained  sadly  of 
their  speedy  lapses  to  drunkenness  and  idolatry.  In 
1755  Sampson  Occum,  a  Mohican,  educated  at 
Lebanon,  Connecticut,  established  a  school  among 
the  Montauks.  After  ten  years  of  varying  success, 
he  gave  up  the  effort  to  accomplish  any  lasting 
good.'     He  went  to  England,  and  there  became  a 

'  He  says  there  was,  "  In  1741,  a  general  reformation  among  these 
Indians  and  they  renounced  all  their  heathenish  idolatry  and  super- 
stition and  many  of  them  became  true  Christiana  in  a  judgment  of 
charity.  Many  of  them  can  read,  write,  and  cypher  well,  and  they 
have  had  gospel  ministers  to  teach  them  from  that  time  to  this 
[1761]  ;  but  they  are  not  so  zealous  in  religion  now,  as  they  were 
some  years  ago."  He  gives  a  census,  enumerating  the  "  total  souls, 
l62."—Mafs,  HU,  Coll,,  Series  I.,  vol.  x. 


58  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

protdge  of  Lady  Huntingdon.  He  excited  much 
sentimental  sympathy,  but  little  practical  interest, 
for,  "  even  the  Bishops,"  he  complains,  "  never  gave 
one  single  brass  farthing  "  to  aid  his  work  on  Long 
Island.  He  aspired  to  be  a  versifier,  and  wrote 
several  well-known  hymns,  among  them,  the  one 
beginning :     "  Awak'd  by  Sinai's  awful  sound." 

Occum  returned  to  America  to  settle  among  the 
Oneidas  where  he  was  followed  by  many  of  the 
Montauks.  Two  of  his  earlier  Long  Island  pupils, 
David  and  Jacob  Fowler,  became  teachers  among 
them.  After  the  Revolution,  they,  with  other 
Mohican  fragments,  combined  as  the  Brothertown 
Indians.  In  1813  the  Legislature  of  New  York 
set  apart  for  them,  under  that  name,  a  tract  of  land 
to  be  held  as  a  perpetual  reservation. 

The  Montauks  remaining  on  Long  Island  have 
dwindled  until  probably  not  one  of  pure  blood  now 
remains,  but  a  form  of  tribal  organisation  was  pre- 
served far  into  the  present  century.  They  retained 
their  hereditary  chiefs,  a  dynasty  of  self-styled 
"  Pharaohs,"  until  the  royal  line  became  extinct  by 
the  death,  in  1832,  at  Poospatuck,  near  Moriches,  of 
the  Squa-sachem,  the  Queen,  Elizabeth  Joe. 

A  little  after  the  sojourn  of  Sampson  Occum 
among  the  Montauks,  Paul  Cuffee,  a  Shinnecock 
Indian,  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  great  eloquence 
and  native  power,  preached  to  his  tribe.  By  his 
endeavour,  an  Indian  meeting-house  was  built  near 
Canoe  Place.  There  he  was  buried,  and  a  simple 
stone  shaft  records  his  excellences.  On  the  Shinne- 
cock Reservation   are  now  about  two  hundred  of 


LAST  OF  THE  RACE.  59 

the  tribe'  last  survivors  of  the  Long  Island  Indians," 
but  much  degraded  by  negro  admixture.  They 
support  a  church  and  a  school,  attempt  to  practise 
the  habits  of  civilised  life,  and  have  lost  even  the 
traditions  of  their  forefathers,  while  their  language 
has  been  for  a  century  dead,  and  their  racial  pride 
long  extinct. 

Near  the  northern  shore  of  Peconic  Bay,  stands 
an  old  pine,  scorched  and  shattered  by  lightning, 
bleached  by  the  salt  sea-wind,  twisted  and  torn  by  ; 
tempest,  yet  with  a  few  persistently  green  branches  ' 
flung  out  to  the  ocean  breeze.  An  alien  there  it  \ 
seems,  and  the  whistling  wind  chants  the  requiem  i 
of  a  by-gone  forest.  But  the  lonely  tree  is  the  sug- 1 
gestion  and  the  mourner  of  more  than  the  dead  i 
conifers.  It  has  outlived  its  contemporary  sachems,  j 
and  when  it  falls,  the  last  of  their  race  may  havej 
gone  from  the  land  of  their  birthright. 

'  The  Reservation  covers  the  land  formerly  held  in  common, 
between  Canoe  Place  and  the  Shinnecock  Hills.  In  1703  it  was 
deeded  to  the  town  of  Southhampton  by  the  Indian  sachems,  and  the 
same  day  was  leased  by  the  town  to  the  Shinnecocks  for  one  thousand 
years  at  a  yearly  rent  of  one  ear  of  Indian  corn. 

'  The  last  Shinnecock  of  pure  blood,  Daniel ,  died  in  October, 

1894. 


IV. 


A   STUDY   OF  NAMES. 


SICILY,  from  prehistoric  times  the  meeting- 
point  and  battleground  of  Aryan  and  Semite, 
of  diverse  nations  contending  for  the  mastery 
of  the  Mediterranean,  gives  in  its  geographical 
names,  not  less  surely  than  to  the  spade  of  the 
archaeologi.st,  a  clue  to  some  of  the  most  profound 
problems  of  race  and  of  language. 

So,  also,  the  names  of  Long  Island  possess  a  value 
of  more  than  passing  interest,  faithfully  recording  as 
they  do,  the  successive  conditions  of  a  varied  civili- 
sation, Indian,  Dutch,  and  English,  of  which  her  nar- 
row territory  has  been  the  scene.  Many  names 
have  been  lost,  or  obscured  by  time  ;  many  super- 
ceded by  the  creations  of  a  false  taste,  but  enough 
remain,  not  only  to  preserve  a  lingering  echo  of  the 
sonorous  Indian  speech,  and  to  stamp  upon  the  land 
the  names,  the  faith,  or  the  ideals  of  her  early  set- 
tlers, but  like  the  fragmentary  bone  from  which  an 
extinct  saurian  can  be  reconstructed  and  classed,  to 
give  curious  insight  into  the  simple  life  of  those 
early  times. 

60 


AUTOCHTHONIC  NAMES.  6l 

Like  Topsy,  the  names  "  grew,"  so  naturally  are 
they  the  outcome  of  place  and  circumstance.  In 
many  of  them  there  is  a  frankness  which  does  not 
admit  a  doubt  as  to  their  fitness,  as  in  Littleworth, 
or  Wastelands,  Hard  Scrabble,  or  Hungry  Harbour, 
while  there  is  an  unconscious  confession  in  the  fact 
that  Good  Ground  could  become  a  proper  name. 
Half-way-Hollow  Hills,  Stony  Brook,  Shelter  Island,' 
and  Old  Fields,  Cold  Spring  and  Flatlands,  Wading 
River,  Black  Stump,  and  Apple-tree  Neck  are  names 
of  the  sort  which  may  be  said  never  to  have  been 
given.  The  entire  system  of  common  pasturage 
upon  the  Necks,  to  regulate  which  was  the  effort  of 
so  much  of  the  early  town  legislation,  is  shown  by 
the  re-duplicated  names — Cow  Neck,  Horse  Neck, 
Hog  Island.  Baiting  Hollow  tells  of  the  necessity 
of  early  travel,  while  Bread-and-Cheese  Hollow,  and 
Dumpling  Hollow  preserve  incidents  in  the  famous 
progress  of  Richard  the  Bull-rider,  which  secured  for 
the  shrewd  Major  and  his  descendants  the  broad 
domain  of  Smithtown.  Canoe  Place  was  an  Indian 
portage,  and  Fireplace "  a  favourite  camping  ground. 
Later,  it  became  South  Haven '  and  the  little  creek 

'  Manhansackaha-quasha-warnock,  its  Indian  name,  signified  an 
island  sheltered  by  other  islands. 

^  Another  Fireplace  is  on  the  Island  opposite  Gardiner's  Island. 
There,  in  a  hollowed  rock  by  the  seashore,  a  fire  was  made  by  one 
seeking  passage  to  the  smaller  island,  whence  the  rising  smoke  would 
summon  the  ferryman. 

'  In  the  New  York  Mercury  of  February  20,  1758,  is  this  announce- 
ment : 

"For  the  Information  of  the  Publick.  Notice  is  hereby  given 
that  the  Place  formerly  called  Setaucut  South  (otherwise  the  fire- 
place) which  lies  on  the  South  Side  of  Long  Island  opposite  the 


62  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

was  bolstered  into  dignity  as  the  East  Connecticut 
River,  marking  the  long  struggle  through  which  the 
emigrants  from  the  Puritan  Colony  strove  to  main- 
tain their  connection  with  the  region  whose  institu- 
tions had  left  on  them  so  deep  an  impress.' 

The  Indians  left  on  their  dear  Seawanhacky  many 
names  of  picturesque  suggestion,  which  have  sur- 
vived in  more  or  less  purity.  In  many  cases,  how- 
ever, they  are  so  changed  as  to  indicate  nothing  of 
their  true  origin.  It  was  a  too  frequent  custom  to 
substitute  for  an  Indian  name  of  absolute  fitness,  an 
English  word  resembling  it  in  sound,  but  in  signifi- 
cance, often  grotesquely  inappropriate.  Wainscott 
suggests  little  of  Wayumscutt.  This  tendency  is 
notable  in  the  name  Jamaica.  The  oldest  entries  in 
the  Town  Books  often  speak  of  "Ye  bever-pond 
commonly  called  Jemaco."  In  the  Mohican  tongue, 
'Amique,'  meaning  beaver,  was  aspirated,  as  if 
written  Jamique.  By  careless  spelling  its  form 
Jameco  was  soon  interchangeable  with  the  name  of 
the  West  Indian  island  which  Admiral  Penn  had 
taken  from  the  Spaniards  in  1655,  and  the  town  was 
sometimes  called  New  Jamaica. 

Glen  Cove  was  until  within  the  present  generation, 
known  as  Mosquito  Cove, — a  most  misleading  and 
slanderous  name  ;  for  the  "  Mosquito  "  is  a  variation 
of  Muscota,  or  Moscheto,  in  many  Indian  dialects 

Town  of  Bridgehampton,  that  the  New  Parish  thereon  lately  erected 
whereof  the  Reverend  Mr.  Abner  Reeves  is  Minister,  has  by  a 
General  Vote  at  the  last  Town  Meeting  obtained  the  name  of  South 
Haven  which  new  name  they  are  desired  to  remember  in  all  Letters 
directed  to  these  Parts  for  the  Future.'' 

'  Or  possibly,  the  Indian  name  of  Conetquot  was  thus  changed. 


SYLLABIC  SURVIVALS.  63 

signifying  a  grassy  flat,  subject  to  overflow.  With 
that  meaning,  it  was  the  native  name  of  Harlem, 
and  it  has  an  honoured  survival  in  Musketaquid,  the 
"grass-drowned  river"  of  Concord. 

The  beautiful  Success  Pond,  where  tulip  trees  and 
liquidambar,  with  a  luxuriant  undergrowth  entangled 
with  wild  grape  and  green-briar,  are  mirrored  in  the 
clear  water,  bears  a  name  which  has  grown  so  far 
away  from  the  Indian  Sacet,  that  a  fisherman's 
legend  has  been  invented  for  its  explanation.  Not 
even  this  perverted  form  will  much  longer  suggest 
the  lost  original,  for  the  entire  region,  beautiful 
mere  and  stately  forest,  scattered  farmsteads  and  old 
Dutch  church,  is  now  known  as  — Lakeville. 

The  melodious  Sonasset  is  entirely  lost,  and  the 
topographical  fitness  of  Drown  Meadow,  which 
replaced  it,  is  usurped  by  the  commonplace  Port 
Jefferson.  In  some  instances,  but  a  single  syllable 
survives.  Towd  and  Cobb  are  the  names  of  districts 
in  Southhampton.  The  stately  sounding  Saga- 
bonack  is  shortened  to  Sagg,  and  even  this  brief 
fragment  loses  a  letter  in  Sag  Harbour.  Saga- 
bonack,  the  Place-of-the-Ground-Nut,  Sagabon  being 
the  Indian  name  of  the  Apios  tuberosa,  is  of  peculiar 
interest  from  the  importance  which  the  starchy 
tubers  '  held  in  the  simple  economy  of  the  natives. 

'  Thoreau  describes  tubers  dug  September  30th,  as  follows : 
"  One  string  weighed  a  little  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  pound, 
the  biggest  were  two  and  two-third  inches  in  circumference,  the 
smallest  way.  It  is  but  a  slender  vine  now  killed  by  the  frost,  and 
not  promising  such  a  yield,  but  deep  in  the  soil,  here  sand,  five  or  six 
inches,  or  sometimes  a  foot,  you  come  to  the  string  of  brown  and 
commonly  knotty  nuts.     The  cuticle  of  the  tuber  is  more  or  less 


64  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

This  "princely  ground-nut,"  as  Jossetyn  calls  it,  was, 
in  seasons  of  scarcity,  a  not  inconsiderable  article  of 
food.'  The  Town  Laws  of  Southhampton,  in  1654, 
ordained  that  if  an  Indian  dug  ground-nuts  on  land 
occupied  by  the  English,  he  was  to  be  set  in  the 
stocks,  and  for  a  second  offence  whipped. 

Mr.  Trumbull  gives  pen  {pin,  pon,  bun)  as  the 
generic  term  for  any  tuber  or  bulb,  and  the  ground- 
nut was  also  known  as  Penak.  Acabonac,  on 
Gardiner's  Bay,  signified  "  a  root-place."  Ketcha- 
ponock,  on  Shinnecock  Bay,  was  the  "  Place  of  the 
largest  roots,"  which  may  have  been  those  of  the 
yellow  water-lily,  Nuphar  advena.  Sabonac,  near 
Mastic,  and  Sebonack,  a  neck  on  Peconic  Bay,  were 
names  meaning  a  large  ground-nut  place.  Sepon 
was   used   for   the  bulb  of   the   wild   meadow-lily, 

cracked  longitudinally,  forming  meridional  furrows,  and  the  root  or 
shoot  bears  a  large  proportion  to  the  tuber." — Autumn,  p.  40. 

^  Kalm  writes  thus  in  Delaware  :  "  Hopniss  was  the  Indian  name 
of  a  wild  plant  which  the  Swedes  still  call  by  that  name.  The  roots 
resemble  small  potatoes  and  were  boiled  by  the  Indians  who  eat  them 
instead  of  bread,  as  do  some  of  the  English.  Mr.  Bartram  told  me 
that  the  Indians  who  live  farther  in  the  country,  not  only  do  eat  these 
roots  which  are  equal  in  goodness  to  potatoes,  but  likewise  take  the 
pease  which  ly  in  the  pods  of  the  plant  and  prepare  them  like  com- 
mon pease.  Dr.  Linsenus  calls  the  plant — Glycine  ajiios." — Travels 
in  North  America,  vol.  ii. ,  p.  q6. 

Ground-nuts  and  acorns  were  almost  the  only  food  of  Hertel  de 
Rouville's  captives  in  their  dread  march  from  Deerfield.  So  im- 
portant on  article  of  food  was  the  ground-nut  to  the  migratory 
Indians,  that  it  is  claimed  a  special  clan,  the  Potato  Clan  (meaning 
"Indian  Potato''  or  Glycene  apois,  L.,  Apios  tuberosa,  Moench.) 
was  added  to  the  Iroquois  confederacy.  See  N.  Y.  Colonial  Docu- 
ments, vol.  ix.,  p.  47.  But  Mr.  Parkman  says  that  if  such  a  clan  did 
exist,  it  was  small  and  unimportant. 


HE  T-  WAALE-BOGHT.  6 1, 

Lilium  Canadense,  which  Thoreau's  Indian  guide  in 
the  Maine  woods  told  him  was  "good  for  soup, 
good  to  boil  with  meat  to  thicken  the  water." 
Tuckahoe,  near  Southhampton  village,  was  named 
from  a  subterranean  fungus,  Pachyma  cocos  the, 
"  Indian  Loaf." 

No  Long  Island  name  is  more  puzzling  and  elusive 
than  Gowanus.  On  good  authority  it  is  said  to  be 
a  contraction  of  Rechgawanes,  a  name  somewhat 
vaguely  applied  to  the  entire  shore  of  the  East 
River.  The  Dutch  "  Gouwe,"  a  bay,  has  suggested 
a  possible  etymology,  and  Gowan's  Cove,  another 
line  of  inquiry,  while  of  its  varied  spellings '  some, 
as  Guanas,  or  the  Gujanes,  have  a  Spanish  flavour. 

With  the  Indian  names  indigenous  to  the  soil, 
is  a  series  of  later  growth,  indicating  the  various 
steps  in  the  settlement  of  the  Island.  Wallabout — 
"  Het-Waale-Boght,"  the  Walloons'  Bay,  more 
memorable  now,  since  its  shifting  sands  were  the 
insufficient  sepulchre  of  ten  thousand  soldiers  dying 
in  the  Prison  Ships — is  the  only  name  remaining 
from  the  thrifty  little  Huguenot  settlements  in  the 
first  decade  of  Dutch  colonisation.  It  does  not  sig- 
nify "  from  the  Waale  "  as  often  translated,  but  may 
be  rendered  "  the  Foreigners'  Bay  "."  So  the  Dutch 
called  the  Gallic  inhabitants  of  Hainault,  Namur, 
and     Luxemburgh,     Gallois     becoming    to    them 

'  Botta,  in  his  History  of  the  War  of  Independence,  speaks  of  the 
"Heights  of  Guan."  Other  forms  of  the  name  are  Goujanes  ; 
Guijanes  ;  Gawanes  ;  Gouwanos  ;  Gowones  ;  Cujanes. 

'  Yet  so  good  an  antiquarian  as  the  late  Mr.  Teunis  Bergen,  him- 
self of  Huguenot  descent,  gave  its  meaning  as  simply  "  The  Head  of 

the  Cove." 
5 


66  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

Waalsche,  whence  Walloon.  Lineal  descendants  of 
the  Belgii  who  defied  Caesar,  there  was  a  cool 
persistent  temperament  quite  opposed  to  that  of 
the  Gauls  of  purely  Keltic  blood,  a  temperament 
which,  allied  with  Dutch  sturdiness,  gave  a  basis  for 
character  not  to  be  surpassed. 

But  this  one  Huguenot  territorial  name  remains, 
nor  are  the  Dutch  much  better  represented  on  the 
Island  which  they  discovered  and  first  planted, 
while  there  are  not  a  few  names  which  appear  to 
claim  a  twofold  origin.  The  hamlet  which  grew  up 
near  the  Waale-Boght,  was  Markwyck,  the  market- 
village,  and  yet  the  name  was  not  impossibly  an 
adaptation  of  the  Indian  Marekkawieck.'  Of  "  The 
Five  Dutch  Towns,"  Boswijck,  Breuckelen,  Vlachte- 
bos,  and  Nieuw  Utrecht  retain  their  original  names. 
'T  Oost-wout, — the  East  Woods,  became,  as  cleared 
of  its  heavy  forest  growth,  "  the  New  Lots."  'T  Kreu- 
pel  Bosch,  earliest  settled  point  in  "  the  New  Town," 
a  coppice  of  scrub-oaks,  was  shortened  into  Cripple- 
bush.  Roede  Hoeck  and  Gheele  Hoeck  have  been 
translated  into  English,  while  Domine's  Hoeck  has 
entirely  lost  its  name.  The  southern  point  of  Roede 
Hoeck  was  called  Boomties  Hoeck,  or  Tree  Point. 
It  is  now  known  as  Bombay  Hook,  the  meaningless 
distortion  of  a  once  significant  name. 

When  the  ease-loving  Wouter  Van  Twiller,  in 
1637,  bought  for  his  favourite  bouwerie,  the  pleasant 
Nutten  Eylandt '  to  which  the  cows  were  driven  at 

'  Pieter  Monfort,  in  1643,  took  out  a  patent  at  the  Waale-Boght, 
for  land  described  as  a  "  Tobacco  Plantation  lying  on  Long  Island 
at  the  bend  of  Meyrechtkawick." 

"Nut  Island,  in  Indian,  Poggank,  perhaps  from  Pecanuc,  the 
Algonquin  for  forest  tree. 


DR.   SAMUEL  LATHAM  MIIXHELL.  67 

low  tide  across  the  shallow  Buttermilk  Channel  sep- 
arating it  from  Breuckelen,  its  sylvan  name  was  lost, 
and  people  began  to  speak  of  the  Governor's  Island. 
Wolver's  Hollow  has  gone  through  a  somewhat 
curious  change  of  name.  When,  in  1650,  the  Eng- 
lish and  the  Dutch  Commissioners  established  the 
boundary  line  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt  at  the  west  side 
of  Oyster  Bay,  the  Dutch,  to  make  good  their  claim, 
at  once  began  the  hamlet  first  called  "  Beaver  Swamp 
Hollow."  Shortly  after.  Captain  Underhill  named 
it,  for  his  mother's  English  home,  Wolverhampton 
Hollow,  which  was  soon  shortened  into  Wolver 
Hollow,  in  supposed  reference  to  the  gray  prowler  of 
the  forest,  whose  stealthy  tread  was  not  infrequent 
in  the  dark  thickets  of  the  North  Side  ravines. 

Other  and  fairer  suggestions  there  are :  Dosoris 
(Dos-uxoris)  keeps  green  the  memory  of  Abigail 
Taylor  whose  rich  dowry  brought  to  the  Reverend 
BenjaminWoolsey  the  estate  so  named.  In  Plandome, 
the  learned  and  eccentric  Dr.  Mitchell '  attempted 

'  Samuel  Latham  Mitchell  was  born  in  1764,  and  died  in  1830, 
after  a  life  of  great  and  varied  intellectual  activity.  Educated  at 
the  University  of  Edinburgh,  he  was  the  classmate  of  Sir  James 
Mackintosh  and  of  Thomas  Addis  Emmet.  Professor  of  Applied 
Chemistry  in  Columbia  College,  he  first  introduced  in  America, 
Lavoisier's  new  system.  He  was  physician  at  the  New  York  Hospi- 
tal for  a  long  term  of  service.  His  various  monographs  in  Medicine 
and  Physics  were  of  lasting  value.  His  ingenious  theory  of  Septon, 
and  of  Septic  acid,  says  Dr.  Francis,  gave  impetus  to  the  chemical 
researches  of  Sir  Humphry  Davy.  But  Geology  and  Zoology  were 
the  favourite  studies  of  this  correspondent  of  Cuvier.  "Show  me  a 
scale,  and  I  will  point  out  the  fish,"  he  often  said.  In  1796,  he 
explored  the  valleys  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk,  later  making 
tours  of  careful  scientific  investigation  through  Canada  and  the 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

He  was  a  United  States  Senator  in  1808,  and  with  Jefferson,  first 


68  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

a  bi-lingual  tribute  to  his  pleasant  home.  Maidstone 
and  Ishp  betray  the  longing  for  the  old  weald  of 
Kent  and  the  ancestral  seats  of  Northamptonshire, 
while  Hempstead  and  the  various  Hamptons 
express  the  thought  always  dominant  with  the 
Anglo-Saxon  settler,  of  making,  in  the  New  World, 
a  new  home.  Often,  the  name  will  indicate  the  time 
of  discovery,  or  of  settlement,  as  Cromwell  Bay 
antedates  the  Restoration ;  or,  as  in  Jericho, 
Jerusalem,  and  Mount  Sinai,  the  Church  affiliation 
of  the  immigrants  is  shown. 

On  the  northern  curve  of  the  Suffolk  shore, 
are  two  headlands  with  names  of  disputed  origin. 
But  Culloden  Point  preserves  the  fact  that  in  the 
great  storm  of  January,  1781,  the  Culloden,  an  Eng- 
lish ship  in  pursuit  of  the  French  fleet  off  Rhode 
Island,  was  there  driven  ashore  and  dashed  to  pieces. 
It  has  been  also  suggested  that,  during  the  colonial 
period  of  brisk  trade  with  the  West  Indies,  the  abrupt 
ascent  of  Mount  Misery  took  its  name  from  the  extinct 
volcano  which  rises  four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea, 
at  the  northwestern  corner  of  St.  Christopher's,  and 
with  which  Long  Island  seamen  were  familiar, 
examined  the  mammoth's  bones  brought  from  the  Great  Bone  Lick. 
John  Randolph  called  him  the  "  Congressional  Library."  Cobbett, 
for  some  years  resident  in  the  Ludlow  mansion  at  Hyde  Park,  said 
of  him  :  "  A  man  more  full  of  knowledge  and  less  conscious  of  it,  I 
never  saw.''  A  serious  student,  he  was  still  one  of  the  most  versatile 
of  men  and  amused  himself  with  many  excursive  fancies.  His  geo- 
logic insight  recognising  America  as  the  older  world,  he  wrote  of  the 
Onondaga  Valley  as  a  possible  site  of  the  Garden  of  Eden.  On  the 
completion  of  the  Erie  Canal,  it  was  Dr.  Mitchell  who  gave  the 
address,  November  4,  1825,  at  the  "  Introduction  of  the  Lady  of  the 
Lake,  to  her  Spouse,  the  Lord  of  the  Ocean.''  ,, 


CHANGES  OF  NAME. 


69 


So,  here  and  there,  throughout  the  Island,  are 
many  names  rich  in  historic  or  linguistic  suggestion, 
the  amber  embalming  hints  of  by-gone  social  condi- 
tions, or  preserving  honoured  family  names  other- 
wise lost.  Although  involving  some  repetition,  the 
more  noteworthy  changes  of  name  are  given  in  tabu- 
lated form,  a  list  by  no  means  complete,  but  with  all 
traceable  etymologies  not  elsewhere  mentioned : 


Amityville 
Appletree  Neck 

Astoria 

Babylon 

Barren  Island 

Bellport 

Blue  Point 

Bridgehampton 

Brooklyn  Rights 

Brookville 


Bushwick  Creek 
Canoe  Place 
Centreport 
Cold  Spring 

College  Point 


was       West  Neck. 
"         Saghtekoos. 

{Sunswick,  (Ind.) 
Jacques  Farm." 
Hallet's  Cove. 
Red  Hook. 
'T  Beeren  Eylandt." 
"        Occombomock. 
"         Manotasoquat. 
"         Feversham. 
"         Ihpetonga.' 

Wolver's  Hollow. 
i  Susco's  Wigwam. 
1  Pink's  Hollow. 
The  Normans'  Kill. 
"         Merosuck. 
"         Little  Cow  Harbour. 
"         Nachaquatuck. 

i  Wigwam  Swamp. 
Tew's  Neck. 
Lawrence's  Neck. 


'  After  Jacques  Bentyn,  an  early  settler  of  Newtown. 
'  The  Bears'  Island. 
'  A  high,  sandy  hill. 


70                          EARLY  LO 

NG  ISLAND. 

Comae                           " 

Winnecomac' 

Narrioch. 

Coney  Island                 " 

■  'T  Conijen  Eylandt. 

(  Scheyer's  Island. 

Coram                            " 

Caroway.' 

Cow  Bay                        " 

(  'T  Schout's  Baie. 
\  Howe's  Bay. 

Cripplebush                   " 

'T  Kreupel  Bosch. 

Cutchogue                     " 

Corchaug.' 

Dutch  Kills 

j  Kanapauka  Kills. 
1  Burger  Joris  Kills. 

Dyer's  Neck                  " 

J  Poquat. 

\  Van  Brunt's  Neck. 

Easthampton                 " 

Maidstone. 

East  River,  The 

T  Helle  Gadt  Rivier, 

Eaton  Neck                   " 

( Gardiner's  Neck, 
i  Eaton  Manor. 

Farmingdale                 " 

Hard  Scrabble. 

Fire  Island ' 

Siekrewhacky. 
Seal  Island. 

(  Setauket  South. 

Fireplace                       " 

<  Conetquot. 

(  South  Haven. 

Fisher's  Island               " 

Winthrop's  Island, 

Flatbush 

j  Vlachte-bosch. 
1  Midwout. 

Flushing 

(  Vlissingen. 
(  Newark. 

'  A  beautiful  place. 

''  Name  of  an  Indian  chief. 

'  Principal  place. 

*  A  corruption  of  Five  Islands,  once  the  number  of  islets  now 
joined  intone  long  bar, 


CHANGES  OF  NAME. 


71 


Flushing  Bay 
Fort  Hamilton 
Fort  Ponds 
Fresh  Pond 
Gardiner's  Island 

Glen  Cove 


Glenwood 


Great  Neck 


Greenlawn 

Greenport 
Greenpoint 


Jamaica 


Jericho 

King's  Park 
Little  Neck 
Little  Neck  Bay 

Brookhaven 
Little  Neck  Bay 

Hempstead 


Clinton  Bay. 

Najack  Bay. 

Konkhongauk. 

Conomock. 

Monchonock.' 

Muscota. 

Musquito  Cove. 

The  Place. 
l-  Pembroke. 
j  Newarke. 
(  Littleworth. 
f  Madnank  (Ind.) 

Madnan's  Neck. 

Mad  Nan's  Neck. 
I~  Horse  Neck. 
j  Cometico. 
(  Old  Fields. 

Sterling  Harbour. 

Cherry  Point. 

Canarasset. 

Bever  Pond,  Jemaco. 

Rustdorp. 
-  Crawford. 
j  Lusum. 
I  The  Farms. 
"         Sunk  Meadow. 
"         Cornbury. 

"       Minnoseroke. 


"       Martin  Gerretsen's  Bay. 
'  A  place  where  many  have  died. 


;2 


EARL  y  LONG  ISLAND. 


Lloyd's  Neck 

Locust  Valley         was 


Long  Island, 
or  Nassau, 


Long  Island  City      " 

Long  Island  Sound  °  " 
Manhasset 

Manhasset  Bay  " 


Caumsett. 

Queen's  Village. 

Horse  Neck. 

Buckram.' 
'  Seawanhacky. 

Wamponomon. 

Manati. 

Mohican. 

Matouwacks. 

Pauinanacke. 
■  Capo  di  Olympo. 

Isle  de  I'Ascension. 

Islant      de      Gebrokne 
Lant. 

Sion. 

Isle  Plowden. 

Island  of  Sterling. 

iDomine's  Hoeck. 
Bennett's  Point. 
Hunter's  Point. 
( 'T  Groodt  Baie. 
( The  North  Sea. 
(  Sintsinck. 
(  Cow  Neck. 

{Cow  Bay. 
Howe's  Bay. 
'T  Schout's  Baie. 


'  Buckram  was  probably  a  corruption  of  Buckhanam,  Norfolk,  the 
seat  of  the  Cock  family,  who  were  among  the  earliest  settlers  of 
Locust  Valley.  The  name  is  cognate  to  Buckingham  and  other 
derivatives  from  the  beech. 

"^  In  an  English  map  published  during  the  Revolution  (Jeffrey, 
London,  1778),  Long  Island  Sound  is  put  down  as  "  The  Devil's 
Belt,"  a  name  the  whaleboaters  made  most  appropriate. 


CHANGES  OF  NAME. 


73 


Maspeth 
Massapequa 

Melville 

Montauk  Point ' 

Moriches 

Mount  Sinai 

Near  Rockaway 
New  Lots 

Newtown 

Newtown  Creek 

Northport 
Oldfields  Bay 
Oldfield's  Point 
Oyster  Bay 
Oyster  Ponds 
Patchogue 
Peconic  Bay 


j  Metsepe. 
I  Mespatches. 

Unkway  Neck. 

South  Oyster  Bay. 

{Sunquam. 
Yaphank. 
Sweet's  Hollow. 
{Montaukett. 
Mohican. 
Visscher's  Hoeck. 
Merogies. 
J  Nonowoutuck. 
( Old  Man." 
Clinktown. 
'T  Oostwout, 
(  Middleburgh. 
I  Hastings. 
(  Maspeth  Kills. 
1  English  Kills. 
Great  Cow  Harbour. 
Conscience  Bay. 
Sharp's  Point. 
Folestone. 
Poquatuck. 
Porchog " 
'T  Cromme  Gouwe* 


'  Montauk  Point,  nine  miles  long,  west  of  Fort  Pond,  was  called 
The  Hither  Woods ;  beyond  the  Pond,  the  western  half  was  called 
The  North  Neck,  the  eastern.  The  Indian  Field. 

'First  applied  to  a  favourite  tavern — "The  Old  Man's" — in 
familiar  recognition  of  the  landlord's  good  fellowship. 

"Shortening  of  Panochanog,  "the  place  where  they  gamble  and 
dance.'' 

*  The  Crooked  Bay. 


74 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


Plainedge 

Plandome  " 

Plum  Island 

Port  Jefferson 

Port  Washington      " 
Queens  " 

Riverhead  " 

St.  James  " 

Setauket  " 

Setauket  Bay 

Shelter  Island 
Southampton  " 

Southold 

St.  Ronan's  Well      " 

Stony  Brook  " 

Suffolk  County 
Sunken  Meadow       " 
Syosset  " 

Wading  River 
Wainscott  " 

Westbury* 


Turkeyville. 

Little  Cow  Neck. 

Isle  of  Patmos. 
( Sonasset. 
1  Drown  Meadow. 

Cow  Neck  Village. 

Bushville. 
j  Acquobogue ' 
\  River  Head, 

Sherawog. 

Ashford. 

Cromwell  Bay. 
j  Farret's  Island. 
1  Sylvester's  Island. 
j  Agawam " 
1  Southton. 
j  Toyong. 
( The  South  Hold. 
(  Snake  Hill. 
( Yonkers.' 

Wapowoag. 

The  Brush  Plains. 

Slongo. 

The  East  Woods. 

Panquacumsuck. 

Wayumscutt. 

Wallage. 


'  The  Head  of  the  Bay. 
'  A  place  abounding  in  fish. 
'  An  estate  belonging  to  Adrian  van  der  Donck. 
*  Named  from  his  English  home  in  Wiltshire,  by  Edmund  Titus, 
founder  of  the  American  family. 


CHANGES  OF  NAME.  75 

Westvllle  "  JWoodedge. 

I  Bungy. 
Willefs  Point  "  Thome's  Point.' 

Woodville  "  Sweezey's  Hollow. 

'  From  William  Thome,  who  came  to  Flushing  in  1642. 


V. 


THE   FIVE  DUTCH  TOWNS. 


To  plant  a  colonie,  it  requires  all  best  parts  of  art,  courage,  judg- 
ment, honesty,  constancy,  diligence  and  industry,  to  do  but  neere 
well. — Captain  John  Smith. 

EARLY  in  the  year  1620,  the  Holland  merchants 
who  had  carried  on  the  fur-trade  with  the 
Island  of  Manhattan,  wished  to  plant  a  colony 
there,  and  it  was  proposed  that  the  Reverend  John 
Robinson,  with  four  hundred  of  his  people,  should 
establish  themselves  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson. 
But  the  Pilgrims  were  loth  to  form  a  new  common- 
wealth under  any  but  English  auspices,  and  the 
course  of  the  Mayflower  was  directed  northward. 

Two  years  later,  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  English 
Ambassador  at  The  Hague,  claimed  the  country  as  a 
part  of  New  England.  The  Dutch  gave  him  no 
specific  answer.  Their  end  was  trade  rather  than 
colonisation,  and  the  English  were  too  disheartened 
by  the  Indian  war  in  Virginia  to  press  the  matter. 
In  1623,  the  organisation  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany was  completed,  and  then  were  made  the  first 
active  efforts  for  the  settlement  of  Manhattan  and 

76 


THE  FIRST  PLANTATIONS.  yj 

the  valley  of  'T  Noordt-Rivier,  efforts  to  which  im- 
petus was  soon  given  by  the  book  of  Johann  de 
Laet. 

But,  though  the  Dutch  rightfully  claimed  juris- 
diction from  the  Delaware  to  Cape  Cod,  the  States- 
General  concerned  themselves  little  with  Long 
Island.  Neither  their  government  nor  their  social 
institutions  extended  east  of  Queens  County.  It  is 
chiefly  within  the  present  limits  of  Kings  County 
that  we  find  the  impress  of  Holland,  and  the  hon- 
oured patronymics  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  No  pa- 
troons  established  there  the  great  manorial  estates 
of  the  Hudson  River  Valley.  The  first  plantations 
were  almost  entirely  from  the  individual  enterprise 
of  isolated  squatters,  or  the  banding  together  of 
little  groups  of  kinsmen  or  former  neighbours. 
They  throve  in  a  sturdy  independence,  perhaps 
stimulated  by  the  Yankee  intruders  at  the  East,  and 
set  small  store  on  the  patronage  of  the  Director- 
General  and  his  Council. 

In  1638,  the  States-General  declared  the  monopoly 
of  the  West  India  Company  at  an  end.  The  land 
was  henceforth  free  to  all  in-dwellers,  Dutch  or 
others,  who  would  recognise  the  judicial  authority 
of  the  Company.  Any  person  might  appropriate  as 
much  land  as  he  could  cultivate,  but  after  an  occu- 
pancy of  ten  years  a  quit-rent  of  one-tenth  its 
produce  was  to  be  given.  This  the  planters  were 
often  slow  to  pay,  and,  in  the  summer  of  1656, 
Stuyvesant  forbade  the  delinquents  taking  any  grain 
from  the  ripening  fields  until  the  tithe  had  been  paid. 

January  1 5, 1639,  the  Director-General  Kieft  bought 


78  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

from  the  Indians  all  the  land  from  Rockaway  to  Sick- 
rewhacky,  and  thence,  across  the  Island  to  Martin 
Gerretsen's  Bay.  The  land  was  then  granted  to 
private  planters,  or  to  companies,  by  whom  it  was 
farmed  out.  In  1640,  a  new  charter  gave  to  all 
immigrants  the  rights  enjoyed  by  the  Dutch.  New 
England  heretics  and  malcontents  gladly  sought  a 
home  under  these  liberal  provisions. 

The  Dutch  settlements  were  formed  into  one  ad- 
ministrative District  in  1661.'  Nieuw  Amersfoordt 
and  Midwout,  which  had  been  united  under  a  single 
Court,  were  then  separated ;  Boswyck  and  Nieuw 
Utrecht  were  annexed,  and,  with  IBreuckelen,  which 
had  had  the  first  Court,  they  formed  "  The  Five 
Dutch  Towns."  From  Holland  came  the  idea  of 
federal  union  which  has  dominated  our  country,  and 
here  was  one  of  its  earliest  germs.  To  the  Court  of 
the  District  came  the  Magistrates  of  the  Town 
Courts  (who  had  jurisdiction  over  all  minor  breaches 
of  the  peace,  and  in  civil  suits  to  the  amount  of  fifty 
guilders)  with  appellate  cases,  and  here  were  deter- 
mined all  matters  of  common  interest,  as  the  laying 
out  of  roads,  the  building  of  churches  and  of 
schools. 

The  Five  Dutch  Towns  were  held  together  by  the 
clannish  sympathies  of  the  people,  as  well  as  by 
ofificial  bond.  Even  after  they  became  the  Riding 
of  an  English  shire,  they  formed,  until  1690,  a  sepa- 

'  The  sheriffs,  until  after  the  organisation  of  the  county,  were  suc- 
cessively David  Prevoost,  Pieter  Tounemann,  and  Adrian  Hege- 
mann.  Their  salary  was  two  hundred  guilders,  with  clerk's  fees, 
one  half  the  civil,  and  one  third  the  criminal  fines. 


THE  DUTCH  CHURCH.  79 

rate  administrative  District  with  its  own  secretary ' 
for  probates,  for  marriage  settlements,  and  for 
"transports,"  or  conveyances  of  land.  They  also 
formed  one  ecclesiastical  body,  joining  in  the  sup- 
port of  their  common  Domine,  and  mutually  ac- 
cepting the  doctrines  of  the  Synod  of  Dortrecht." 
Until  1772,  they  were  under  the  authority  of  the 
Classis  of  Amsterdam,  and  services  in  the  Dutch 
language  were  continued  well  into  the  present 
century.' 

A  glance  would  suggest  the  seeming  descent  of 
Breuckelen  with  its  intermediate  form  of  Brookland/ 

'  Nicasius  de  Sille  was  the  most  notable  incumbent.  By  him  were 
written  the  joint  wills  of  husband  and  wife,  peculiar  to  our  Dutch 
ancestors. 

'  The  Synod  of  Dortrecht  was  in  session  from  November,  1618, 
to  May,  1619.  Here  were  assembled  representatives  of  the  churches 
of  The  Palatinate,  of  Hesse,  of  Switzerland,  and  of  Bremen, 
Louis  XIII.  forbade  the  attendance  of  the  delegates  of  the  French 
Reformed  Church.  The  Synod  ratified  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
and  Confession  of  Faith,  and  closed  with  the  declaration  that  ' '  its 
marvellous  labours  had  made  Hell  tremble." 

'  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that,  with  the  decline  of  the  Dutch  element 
in  the  Five  Towns,  an  entirely  distinct  settlement  was  started,  and, 
in  a  very  humble  way,  has  retained  to  the  present  time  the  customs 
and  language  of  Holland, 

Tuckerstown,  a  fishing  village  a  little  distance  from  Sayville,  and 
sometimes  called  West  Sayville,  or  Greenville,  was  settled  in  1786 
by  Gustav  Tukker,  from  Vlieland  in  North  Holland,  an  oysterman 
who  had  heard  of  the  famous  oysters  of  Long  Island.  He  settled 
four  miles  west  of  Blue  Point,  and  soon  sent  for  six  other  families 
from  Zealand.  In  1825  was  a  larger  immigration.  The  people  pre- 
serve their  national  habits,  and  Dutch  is  their  home  language.  The 
services  of  the  Holland  Christian  Reformed  Church  aire  in  Dutch. — 
New  York  Evening  Post,  September  9,  1893. 

*  Bruyklandt,  Brukland,  Broocklandt,  are  among  the  most  frequent 
of  the  esfrly  variations  of  the  name. 


8o  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

But  as  is  often  the  case  the  apparent  etymology  is 
wrong.  Here  is  no  celebration  of  a  land  of  streams, 
no  survival  of  De  Gebrokne  Landt,  but  the  name- 
sake of  Breuckelen,'  a  pretty  village  six  leagues  from 
Amsterdam  on  the  road  to  Utrecht. 

The  great  city,"  which  has  absorbed  nearly  her 
entire  county  and  is  stretching  her  eager  arms  far 
out  on  the  Hempstead  Plains,  had  her  official  birth 
in  1636.  But  from  the  very  founding  of  Nieuw 
Amsterdam  there  had  been  a  few  scattered  bouweries 
and  plantations  within  her  limits.  Coincident  with 
the  purchase  of  Manhattan,  there  had  been,  chiefly 
on  Long  Island,  those  settlements  of  the  Huguenots 
befriended  by  the  Dutch  in  both  Holland  and 
America. 

In  1622,  the  Walloons  resident  in  the  Nether- 
lands, applied  to  the  Engli.sh  ambassador  for  per- 
mission to  settle  in  Virginia.  Sir  Dudley  Carleton 
referred  the  matter  to  the  king,  and  James,  to  the 
Virginia  Company.  Their  reluctant  consent  was 
weighted  with  unfavourable  conditions  which  the 
Walloons  rejected.  When  the  enlarged  scope  of 
the  West  India  Company  made  settlement  as  well 
as  trade  an  object  to  the  Directors,  Schipper  Cor- 
nelis  Mey  brought  out,  from  their  uncertain  refuge 
in  the  often  ravaged  Palatinate,  thirty  families  of 
French  and  Belgic  descent.  A  sorely  driven  people, 
their  very  name  of  Walloon  showed  them  to  be 

'  The  name  signifies  marsh-land,  and  was  long  appropriate  to  the 
swamps  of  Gowanus. 

^  In  1790,  the  village  of  Brooklyn  was  proposed  as  the  seat  of  the 
national  capital.  In  i8go,  nine-tenths  the  population  of  Long  Island 
is  within  the  city  limits. 


THE  EARLIEST  LAND   GRANT.  8 1 

homeless  wanderers.  Their  story  is  too  nearly 
parallel  with  the  history  of  the  Dutch,  their  lives 
and  fortunes  too  closely  mingled  by  the  ties  of  in- 
termarriage, of  Church  and  State,  for  them  to  be 
long  separated.  The  grant  of  Peter  Minuit,  under 
the  charter  of  the  West  India  Company,  gave  them 
the  little  cove  at  once  called  'T  Waale-Boght.  It  is 
probable  that  even  earlier,  in  April,  1623,  a  few 
families  were  in  Nieuw  Amersfoordt,  where  they 
introduced  the  peach,  the  pear,  and  the  quince. 
Indeed,  these  Walloons  were  the  first  who  in  Nieuw 
Nederlandt  cultivated  the  soil  as  a  means  of  liveli- 
hood. 

From  1626,  there  was  a  steadily  increasing  popula- 
tion in  Breuckelen,  although  the  first  land  grant  in 
Kings  County  was  not  until  ten  years  later.  At 
that  time,  June  7,  1636,  Jacobus  van  Corlear,  some 
time  Commissary  at  'T  Huys  van  Huip,'  bought  of 
the  Indians  the  fertile  flats  of  Castateeuw."  The 
same  day,  Jacques  Bentyn,  the  Schout-Fiscal,  and 
Willem  Adrianse  Bennet  bought  lands  at  Gowanus. 
The  next  year  Joris  de  Rapalje,  an  exile  from  the 
fair  Rochelle,  and  his  wife  Catalina  Trico,  settled  at 

^  The  House  of  Hope,  the  Dutch  post  on  the  Connecticut,  estab- 
lished on  the  site  of  Hartford  in  1633. 

'  "  16  June,  1636.  The  Director-General  and  Council  of  Neuw 
Nederlandt  residing  at  Fort  Amsterdam  on  the  Island  of  Manhattan 
certify  that  before  them  appeared  this  day,  Tenkirauw,  Ketaman, 
Ararykau,  Wappettawackensis,  owners,  who  by  advice  of  Penhawis 
&  Cakapeteyno,  chiefs  in  that  quarter,  have,  for  certain  goods  deliv- 
ered unto  them,  sold  and  delivered  unto  Jacobus  Van  Curler  the 
middlemost  of  the  three  fflats  to  them  belonging,  called  Castateeuw, 
lying  on   the  island  Seawanhacky  between  the  bay  of  the   North 

River  and  the  East  River." — Albany  Records,  G.  G.,  31,  35. 
6 


82  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

'T  Waale-Boght '  with  the  little  Sara,"  born  ten  years 
before,  during  their  brief  sojourn  in  Fort  Orange. 
In  1638  the  Director-General  Kieft  gave  land,  the 
first  recorded  deed,  to  Abraham  Rycken,  ancestor 
of  the  Riker  family. 

Soon  after,  the  people  of  Breuckelen  applied  to 
the  Council  for  permission  to  organise  a  town  at 
their  own  expense.  This  privilege  was  granted 
November  22,  1646,  by  the  Director-General  Kieft, 
in  behalf  of  the  High  and  Mighty  Lords  States- 
General  of  the  United  Netherlands,  His  Highness 
of  Orange,  and  the  Honourable  Directors  of  the 
General  Incorporated  West  India  Company.  Jan 
Teunissen  was  commissioned  as  Schout.  This  little 
village  of  Breuckelen  was  a  mile  inland,  but  the 
water-front  was  well  taken  up  in  bouweries,  and 
there  were  even  then  three  other  distinct  hamlets, 
the  Gowanus,  'T  Waale-Boght,  and  the  Ferry, — 
Het-Veer,  as  the  nuclei  of  future  growth. 

In  1642,  before  the  town  had  entered  on  its  mu- 
nicipal existence,  a  public  ferry  to  Nieuw  Amster- 
dam had  been  established.  It  ran  from  a  spot  near 
the  foot  of  the  present  Fulton  Street,  where  was  the 
house  and  garden  of  Cornells  Dircksen,  to  a  point 
not  far  from  Peck's  Slip,  where  also  he  owned  land. 
There,  on  an  old  tree  by  the  water  side,  hung  a 
conch-shell  horn  with  which  the  rare  passenger 
would  summon  from  his  plough  the  yeoman,  who, 

'  De  Rapalje's  land  was  on  the  south  shore  of  the  bay.  The  tract 
was  called  by  the  Indians  Rennagaconk,  and  is  now  within  the 
grounds  of  the  Marine  Hospital. 

'  Self-styled  in  a  petition  to  Stuyvesant  April  4,  1656  :  "  Sarah 
Jorise,  first-born  Christian  daughter  in  Nieuw  Nederlandt." 


A    YEARL  Y  KERMISS.  83 

drawing  a  rude  boat  from  its  hiding-place  in  the 
bushes,  rowed  him  over  for  a  fare  of  three  stuyvers, 
paid  in  wampum.  The  privilege  was  a  valued  one, 
and  the  next  year  Dircksen  sold  to  Willem  Tomas- 
sen  his  house  and  land  in  Breuckelen  with  the  right 
of  ferriage  for  twenty-three  hundred  guilders.  In 
1653,  a  scale  of  charges  was  made,  fixing  the  rates' 
and  requiring  a  license  from  the  Government.  A 
little  later  the  ferryman  had  become  a  person  of 
such  importance,  as  with  his  assistant  to  be  exempt 
from  "  training  "  and  all  military  service.  In  1698, 
so  shrewd  a  financier  as  Rip  van  Dam  leased  the 
ferry  for  seven  years  at  an  annual  rental  of  ;^85. 
It  was  then  called  the  Nassau  Ferry.  By  1717,  the 
business  had  so  increased  that  a  second  route,  the 
New  York  Ferry,  was  opened,  running  from  the 
same  point  to  a  landing  at  the  Burger's  Path." 

To  hasten  the  growth  of  the  young  town,  in  1656, 
the  Schepens  ordered  the  owners  of  vacant  lots  to 
build  upon  them  within  a  specified  time  the  next 
year.  Thursday  was  appointed  as  a  market  day. 
In  1675,  a  yearly  fair,  or  Kermiss,  for  sale  or  barter  of 
"  all  grayne,  cattle  or  other  produce  of  the  country," 
was  appointed  to  be  held  during  the  first  week  in 
November.  Long  Island  was  even  then  a  source  of 
supplies  to  her  neighbours,  and  had  begun  that 
career  of  careful  cultivation  which  now  covers  her 

'  For  a  wagon  and  two  horses 20  stuyvers 

"        "  "     one  horse i6       " 

' '     an  Indian 6       " 

' '     a  Person 3       " 

^  The  original  name  of  Old  Slip,  given  from  the  Burgher  Joris,  an 
early  merchant  and  smith  in  Nieuw  Amsterdam,  and  one  of  the  first 
planters  of  Mespat. 


84  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

plains,  and  reclaimed  marshes  with  market-gardens 
that  are  a  symphony  in  varied  greens. 

The  town  was  not  yet  so  large  that  it  did  not  feel 
safer  behind  the  palisades  erected  by  an  ordinance 
of  1660.  Thirty-one  families  were  then  living  there, 
and  the  population  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-four. 
A  church  was  organised  under  the  Domine,  Hendricus 
Selyns.'  It  was  made  up  from  the  four  hamlets  of 
the  "  Kerch-buurte,"  or  church-neighbourhood,  with 
a  membership  of  twenty-seven."  For  some  years 
services  were  held  in  a  barn,  and  the  first  building 
was  not  put  up  until  1666.  Its  site  was  in  Fulton 
Street,  near  Lawrence,  and  it  was  called  by  Bankers 
and  Sluyter,  "  a  small  and  ugly  little  church  standing 
in  the  middle  of  the  street." 

Here  also  was  held  that  benign  office  peculiar  to 
the  Dutch  Church,  assisting,  and  in  a  new  country 

'  Hendricus  Selyns,  one  of  the  most  accomplished  scholars  of  his 
time,  was  inducted  September  3,  1660.  He  was  presented  to  the 
congregation  by  Nicasius  de  Sille  and  Martin  Krieger,  Burgomaster 
of  Nieuw  Amsterdam.  Breuckelen  had  previously  been  dependent 
upon  the  ministrations  of  the  pastor  of  Vlacktebosch,  but  as  said 
the  appeal  for  the  new  church,  Domine  Polhemus  was  growing  old, 
and  the  road  between  the  two  villages  was  ' '  rocky,  hilly  and  danger- 
ous to  travel." 

'  "  Het  Register  der   Ledematen  der  Kerche  van  Breuckelen' 
gives  the  following  names  of  its  charter  members  : 
Joris  Dircksen  Willem  Gerritssen  van  Couwenhoven. 

Susanna  Duffels  Greatje  Jans 

.  Albert  Comelissen  Teunis  Nyssen 

Trijntje  Hudders  Femmetje  Jans 

Aeltje  Joris  Adam  Brower 

Pieter  Monfoordt  Johannes  Marcus 

Sara  de  Blanche  Elsie  Hendricks 

Jan  Evertse  Teunis  Jansen 

Tryntje  Symons  Barbara  Leucas 

Willem  Brendebent  Jan  Jorissen 

Aeltje  Brackand  Jan  Hibou 

Jan  Pietersen  Gertruydt  Barent 


A  LOTTERY  AND  A   CHURCH. 


8S 


usually  preceding,  the  pastorate,  the  "  'Zieken- 
trooster,"  or  "  Krank-besoecker,"  the  comforter  of 
the  sick.     In  1626,  Jan  Huick  held  the  office. 

The  building  of  the  first  Episcopal  Church  in 
Brooklyn  was  attempted  by  means  then  considered 
quite  legitimate.'  In  Rivington's  New  York  Gazette, 
March  17,  1774,  appears  the 

"  Scheme  of  a  Lottery  for  raising  the  sum  of 
£600  to  build  a  CHURCH  at  Brookland  Ferry,  under 
the  patronage  of  the  Rector  and  Vestry  of  Trinity 
Church,  there  being  no  place  in  Kings  County  for 
the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God  where  the 
English  Liturgy  is  used,  and  the  inhabitants  in 
communion  with  the  Church  of  England  having 
long  submitted  to  great  inconvenience  from  inclem- 
ency of  the  weather  and  other  causes,  intreat  the 
assistance  of  the  Public  in  promoting  their  laudable 
method  of  raising  a  sufficient  sum  for  erecting  a 
decent  building  for  the  service  of  Almighty  God. 
The  Lottery  to  consist  of  4000  tickets  subject  to  a 
deduction  of  15  per  cent. 

"  Prizes.  Dollars. 

500 

300 

, 100 

50 

25 


2. 
2. 

4- 

8. 

12. 

16. 

108. 

1180. 


are 


20 
10 

5 


Dollars. 

1000 

600 

400 

200 

300 

320 

1080 

5900 

10,000 


1332  Prizes 
2668  Blanks 

'  The  scheme  was  interrupted  by  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  St. 
Ann's  Church  was  not  built  until  1787. 


86  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

"4000  tickets  at  twenty  shillings  are  10,000  dol- 
lars. Little  need  be  said  in  praise  of  the  above 
scheme,  as  the  careful  observer  will  at  once  see  the 
propriety  of  becoming  an  adventurer,  there  being  no 
more  than  2  BlanksUo  a  Prize. 

"  The  above  Lottery  is  made  under  the  manage- 
ment of  I 

Alexander  Colden,)Esquire, 

Captain  Stephen  Payne  Clyde  Gallway. 
Messieurs 

John  Carpenter, 

John  Crowley, 

Thomas  Everet, 

Thomas  Horsfield, 

Whitehead  Cornell." 

A  school  was  first  opened  in  the  summer  of  166 1, 
by  Carel  de  Beauvais,  who  was  not  only  teacher  but 
messenger  of  the  courts,  precentor,  bell-ringer,  and 
grave-digger.  Nearly  a  hundred  years  later,  is  this 
announcement  of  a  man  of  more  ambitious  title  : 

"July '3,  1749.  Notice  is  hereby  given  that  at 
New  York  Ferry  on  Nassau  Island,  is  carefully 
taught,  reading,  writing,  vulgar  and  decimal  frac- 
tions, extraction  of  the  square  and  cube  root,  navi- 
gation and  surveying.  French  and  Spanish  taught 
and  translated  and  sufficient  security  given  to  keep 
all  writing  secret  by 

"  John  Clark,  Philomath." 

In  1663,  Hendrick  Claesen  and  other  Walloons 
in  Nieuw  Utrecht  asked  permission  to  settle  at 
'T  Waale-Boght.  In  1676,  the  land  in  and  about 
Bedford  was  bought  of  the  Indians  for  "  100  guilders 


THE  KING'S  HIGHWA  Y.  87 

seawant ;  half  a  tun  good  beer;  3  guns,  long  barrells, 
each  with  a  pound  of  powder  and  lead  proportional 
to  a  gun,  and  4  matchcoats."  Thus,  the  country  was 
filling  up,  and  the  time  approaching  for  the  coales- 
cence of  the  scattered  hamlets. 

It  was  not  until  1704,  that  the  King's  Highway, 
now  Fulton  Street  and  Fulton  Avenue,  was  laid  out. 
It  was  to  run  "  ffrom  low  water  mark  in  the  town- 
ship of  Brookland  in  Kings  County,  and  ffrom  thence 
to  run  fTour  rod  wide  up  and  between  the  houses  of 
John  Clerson,  John  Coe  and  George  Jacobs,  and  soe 
all  along  to  Brookland  towne  afloresaid,  through  the 
lane  that  now  is."  This  road  was  extended  through 
Kings,  Queens,  and  Suffolk  to  Easthampton,  and 
was  long  the  one  line  of  communication  between 
the  East  and  the  West.  Nor  is  it  yet  disused ;  in 
Queens  County  it  is  the  Jericho  Turnpike  along 
which  the  canvas-covered  market  wagons  still  make 
their  nightly  way. 

The  early  official  records  of  Breuckelen  are  sup- 
posed to  have  been  destroyed  during  the  Revolu- 
tion. But  in  none  of  the  Dutch  Towns  were  the 
records  as  complete,  as  characteristic,  and  as  signifi- 
cant as  in  the  English  Towns,  where  each  was  in 
itself  a  little  democracy.  Eastern  Long  Island  was 
socially  and  politically,  as  well  as  geologically,  a 
New  England  moraine,  and  not  unlike  a  glacial 
sheet  was  that  rigid  Puritan  sway  which  impelled 
the  emigration  thither. 

In  the  same  summer  of  1636  that  Jacobus  van 
Corlear  bought  the   flats  of  Castateeuw,  Andreas 


88  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Hudde,  one  of  the  Council  of  the  Province,  and 
Wolfert  Gerretsen,  bought  meadows  to  the  west- 
ward, and  Wouter  van  Twiller  to  the  eastward — in 
all,  a  tract  of  fifteen  thousand  acres.  The  little 
settlements  which  here  sprang  up  were  soon  grouped 
together  as  Nieuw  Amersfoordt.  There  had  cer- 
tainly been  scattered  farmsteads  as  early  as  1623, 
but  the  question  of  priority  of  settlement  between 
Nieuw  Amersfoordt  and  Brooklyn  cannot  be  authori- 
tatively settled.  The  town  was  named  in  fond  re- 
membrance of  Amersfoordt  in  the  province  of 
Utrecht,  birthplace  of  the  heroic  Barneveldt,  home 
of  many  of  its  early  settlers.  Through  the  eigh- 
teenth century  the  name  struggled  for  existence  with 
Vlacklands,  the  Flatlands  of  the  English.  The  de- 
scendants of  the  Dutch  planters  proudly  clung  to 
the  original  name,  but  it  was  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  In  1801,  a  legislative  enactment  decreed 
that  henceforth  the  town  should  be  known  only  as 
Flatlands.  There  the  plodding  yeoman  throve, 
content  with  the  results  of  a  patient  industry,  which 
brought  a  comfortable,  if  somewhat  rude  mainte- 
nance. Their  carefully  tilled  grounds  were,  as  Char- 
lotte Bronte  says  of  the  environs  of  Brussels,  "  fertile 
as  a  Brobdignagian  kitchen-garden,"  and  yielded 
rich  returns  in  grain  and  fruits  and  culinary  plants. 
The  little  group  of  plantations  and  bouweries  was 
soon  a  flourishing  farming  region.  With  these  fer- 
tile flats,  which  appealed  to  the  Dutch  eye  with 
fonder  association  than  the  hills  and  dales  of  Man- 
hattan, Nieuw  Amersfoodt  included  the  salt-marshes 
along  Jamaica  Bay,  where  efforts  at  dyking  were 


A  NIEUW  AMERSFOORDT  VERSE-MAKER.      89 

already  madcj  and  'T  Beeren  Eylandt,  then  much 
larger  than  now,  and  overgrown  with  cedars.  Here, 
as  well  as  at  Roede  Hoeck,  was  a  tobacco  planta- 
tion of  Wouter  van  Twiller,  and  called  Achterveldt. 
This  worthy  Hollander,  whatever  his  inefficiency  as 
a  governor,  had  a  genuine  fondness  for  country  life, 
and  did  much  for  the  agricultural  development  of 
the  province. 

The  first  church  built  in  Nieuw  Amersfoordt  stood 
for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half.  It  was  an  octagonal 
structure  with  shingled  sides  and  belfry,  and  the 
enclosed  porch  arranged  as  a  "  Doophausje,"  or 
Baptistry.  When  torn  down,  in  1794,  there  were 
still  the  original  wineglass-pulpit,  and  the  rude 
benches  for  the  congregation.  To  them  had  been 
added,  when  the  church  was  enlarged  in  1716,  two 
chairs  of  state,  one  for  the  magistrate,  and  one  for 
"  Yef-vrouw,"  the  Domine's  wife. 

In  Nieuw  Amersfoordt  lived  for  a  time,  Jacob 
Steo*idam,  the  first  verse-maker  of  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt.  In  1652,  he  bought  a  bouwerie  there,  which, 
on  returning  to  Holland  eight  years  later,  he  sold  to 
the  West  India  Company  for  one  hundred  and 
ninety  schepels '  of  buckwheat.  Among  his  verses, 
inspired  by  his  residence  there,  are  "  The  Complaint 
of  Nieuw  Nederlandt  to  her  Mother,"  1659,  and  the 
"Praise  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt,"  1661." 

September  10,  1645,  the  West  India  Company, 
acting  through  the  Director-General  Kieft,  bought 
of  the  Indians  the  tract  of  land  from  Coney  Island 

'  The  schepel  equalled  three  pecks. 

'  See  Mr,  Henry  M.  Murphy's  Anthologie  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt. 


go  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

to  Gowanus.  It  included  the  present  town  of 
Nieuw  Utrecht.  Contemporary  official  reports  to 
the  States-General  speak  of  the  new  acquisition  with 
well  tempered  enthusiasm,  and  say  "  'T  Lange 
Eylandt  is  the  pearl  of  the  Nieuw  Nederlandt." 

The  praise  was  not  lost.  In  November,  165 1,  the 
Honourable  Cornelis  van  Werckhoven,  Schepen  of 
Utrecht,  and  member  of  the  West  India  Company, 
rose  in  its  Council  Chamber,'  in  Amsterdam,  to  say 
that  he  was  ready  to  plant  two  colonies  in  America, 
and  that  one  should  be  near  'T  Hoofden"  on  the 
Bay  of  the  Great  River.  Coming  to  Nieuw  Amster- 
dam, he  received  a  grant  from  Stuyvesant,  and, 
November  22,  1652,  he  bought  of  the  Indians  the 
Nyack  tract'  bordering  on  the  Narrows  and  the  Fay. 

Van  Werckhoven  then  returned  to  Holland,  leav- 
ing the  estate  in  charge  of  the  tutor  of  his  children. 
Jacques  Cartelyou  was  an  accomplished  man,  versed 
in  languages  and  mathematics,  in  medicine  and 
other  sciences,  with  a  philosophical  habit  of  mind 
and  a  practical  ability  equally  valuable  in  pioneer 
life.  The  Labadist  travellers  summed  up  his  virtues, 
saying,  "  the  worst  of  it  is,  he  was  a  good  Cartesian, 
and  not  a  good  Christian,  regulating  himself  and  all 

'  The  house  in  which  were  the  offices  of  the  West  India  Company 
is  still  standing  on  Haarlemmer  Strasse,  facing  'T  Heeren  Strasse. 

'  The  Narrows,  or  Hamel's  Hoofden,  named  after  a  Director  of 
the  Company.  The  price  paid  was  six  shirts,  six  pairs  of  hose,  six 
combs,  six  knives,  two  pairs  of  scissors,  and  two  pairs  of  shoes, 

'  Nyack,  Najack.  Najack  Bay  was  the  bend  near  Fort  Hamilton, 
later  known  as  Jacquesses'  Bay.  Near  by  was  Denice  Ferry,  half  a 
mile  north  of  Fort  La  Fayette,  named  from  Denys  vaii  Duyn,  one 
of  the  early  settlers  of  the  town. 


NIC  A  SI  us  DE  SILLE.  9J 

externals  by  reason  and  Justice  only ;  nevertheless  he 
regulated  all  things  better  by  these  principles  than 
do  most  people  who  bear  the  name  of  Christian,  or 
pious  people."  During  their  visit,  they  lent  him 
Les  Pensdes  de  Pascal,  which  they  "  judged  would 
be  useful  to  him."  An  unexpected  note  of  liberality 
in  these  jealous  propagandists,  if  they  communed 
with  the  broad-souled  Pascal. 

His  patron  soon  dying,  Cortelyou  determined  that 
the  proposed  colony  should  not  die  with  him.  He 
petitioned  the  Director-General  and  the  Council  for 
permission  to  "  found  a  town  on  Long  Island  on  the 
Bay  of  the  Great  River."  He  then  surveyed  the 
land,  dividing  it  into  twenty-one  lots  of  fifty  acres, 
and  a  house-lot,  four  acres,  to  each  settler.  These 
lots  were  granted  to  nineteen  men,  two  being  re- 
served for  "  the  poor." 

One  of  these  indwellers  was  the  Chancellor  and 
Fiscal-Schout,'  Nicasius  de  Sille,  poet,  historian,  and 
Doctor  of  Laws.  He  built  the  first  house  erected  in 
Nieuw  Utrecht,  a  substantial  specimen  of  fine  old 
colonial  architecture,  and  which  remained  standing 
until  1850.  De  Sille  is  one  of  three  Dutch  verse- 
makers  whose  memory  is  preserved  in  Murphy's 
Anthologie.  He  interspersed  the  Records  of  the 
Town  with  verses,  among  which  an  epitaph  to  the 
infant  child  of  Jacques  Cortelyou  is  perhaps  the  best : 

"  Hier  leidt  de  eerste  geboort  van  Cortelyou  gestorben  ; 
Die  erste  van  het  dorp  van  Utrecht  gesproten  ; 

'  An  officer  whose  functions  were  those  of  Attorney-General  and 
Sheriff,  the  most  responsible  office  in  the  province. 


92  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Onnosel  voort  getult,  onnosel  wech  gerucht, 

Godt  geeft  datmet  't  geteel  hier,  naa  een  beter  lucht."  ' 

Early  in  the  settlement  of  the  town,  the  inhabitants 
were  much  troubled  by  their  fences  being  stolen  at 
night.  In  1655,  the  Director-General  issued  a  proc- 
lamation, twice  repeated,  setting  forth  the  incon- 
venience thereof  and  establishing  the  penalty — "  For 
the  first  offence  of  being  whipped  and  branded  ;  for 
the  second,  of  being  hanged  with  a  cord  until  death 
follow,  without  favour  to  any  person." 

The  division  of  land  was  not  followed  by  rapid 
settlement,  and  within  three  years  but  twelve  houses 
were  built.  In  1659,  the  planters  represent  theirJand 
as  insufificient,  and  petition  for  a  part  of  the  Canarsie 
Meadows,  which  was  given  them.     The  thrifty  Hol- 

'  Here  lies  the  first  from  Cortelyou  withdrawn  ; 

The  first  child  in  the  village  of  our  Utrecht  born  ; 

Brought  forth  in  innocence,  snatched  hence  without  a  stain, 

God  gave  it  being  here,  a  better  life  to  gain. 

Translated  by  H.  M.  Murphy. 
In  another,  the  Earth  speaks  to  her  cultivators  : 

"  How  long  my  worth  did  creatures  of  all  kinds  eschew. 
The  ant,  the  slimy  snake,  and  that  uncouth,  savage  crew 
Shut  out  from  Heaven's  light  by  the  umbrageous  wood 
Did  naught  that  I  produced  e'er  savour  of  the  good. 
Mother  of  all  I  was,  but  little  did  they  care 
If  what  I  might  bring  forth  did  ever  breathe  the  air. 
But  heat  and  sunshine  now,  a  bright  and  genial  sky, 
Infuse  in  me  new  life  and  nourishment  supply  ; 
And  when  I  had  no  name,  you  gave  the  name  to  me 
Of  Utrecht,  unrenowned  for  my  fertility. 
An  honour  great  this  is,  but  bide  my  future  fame, 
I  now  am  satisfied  by  the  honour  of  my  name, 
By  grain  and  orchard  fruit,  by  horses  and  by  kine. 
By  plants  and  by  a  race  of  men  all  growth  of  mine." 

H.  M.  M. 


THE  FIRST  RECORDS.  93 

landers  and  Palantines  well  knew  the  value  of  these 
salt  marshes,  although  their  owners  had  received  for 
it  but  a  half  dozen  coats,  a  few  looking-glasses, 
chisels,  axes,  knives,  and  kettles. 

Early  in  1660,  orders  were  given  to  palisade  the 
village  and  to  "  cut  down  trees  within  gun-shot  so 
that  men  might  see  afar  off." '  Great  alarm  was 
felt  over  the  menace  of  the  "  River  Indians,"  and  the 
Fiscal's  house,  the  only  tiled  roof  in  the  village,  was 
fortified  as  a  place  of  refuge.  Soon  after,  a  block- 
house was  built  for  protection  against  "  Indians, 
pirates  and  other  robbers."  The  same  year,  the  set- 
tlers asked  Stuyvesant  to  appoint  a  Schout,  a  Clerk, 
and  an  Assessor,  with  authority  to  allot  the  unassigned 
lands  that  they  might  be  enclosed  and  cultivated. 

The  formal  incorporation  of  the  town  was  in  1660. 
The  official  business  and  current  events  had  been 
carefully  recorded  by  De  Sille  up  to  this  time,  "  for 
the  encouragement  and  information  of  posterity." 
He  then  says:  "I  now  close  this  Introduction,  or 
Commencement  of  the  Records  of  the  Town,  all  the 
preceding  having  been  written  by  myself,  or  my  son 
Laurens,  as  gathered  from  various  sources  and  from 
memory.  I  now  deliver  this  book  to  Jacob  van 
Curlear,  Secretary  of  the  Town  of  Nieuw  Utrecht, 
and  his  Assistant,  Jan  Tomasse,  whom  I  desire  for 
our  benefit  and  that  of  our  Successours,  to  continue 
the  same  in  the  manner  in  which  it  is  done. 

"Closed  this  15th  day  Dec^  A.D.  1660,  in  Amster- 
dam by  me  Nicasius  de  Sille."' 

*  See  Statute  of  Winchester,  temp.  Edward  I. 
'  These   Records  have  been  translated  by  the  late  Mr.  Teunis 
Bergen. 


94 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


The  first  church  in  Nieuw  Utrecht  was  organised 
in  1677,  but  no  building  was  erected  until  1700.  On 
its  "Boeck  der  Ledematen  "  are  many  French  as 
well  as  Dutch  names,  for  here  again  a  similarity  of 
theological  tenets  brought  in  close  unison  immi- 
grants as  unlike  in  blood  and  temperament  as  the 
Calvinists  from  the  Rhine  and  from  the  Garonne. 

The  quiet  days  absorbed  in  the  homely  cares  of 
pastoral  life  were  not  undisturbed  by  outer  fac- 
tions. Captain  John  Scott,  an  unscrupulous  English 
adventurer,  having  a  royal  grant  to  possess  unoccu- 
pied lands,  was  appointed  by  Connecticut  to  exam- 
ine the  claims  of  Holland  to  'T  Lange  Eylandt. 
This  he  regarded  as  a  warrant  for  dispossession. 
Crossing  the  Sound,  he  organised  the  English  towns 
into  a  rude  provisional  government  of  which  he  was 
president.  He  sought  to  draw  the  Dutch  towns 
into  that  league,  and  early  in  1663  rode  into  Nieuw 
Utrecht  at  the  head  of  a  lawless  band.  He  raised 
the  English  flag  and  proclaimed  King  Charles  as 
sovereign  from  Boston  to  Virginia.  But  he  was 
driven  from  the  town  and  the  case  referred  to  arbi- 
trators. Then  the  Dutch  referees,  De  Sille  and  others, 
quietly  disposed  of  his  assumption  by  saying  "their 
governments  in  Europe  would  settle  that  matter." 

The  name  of  Flatbush  has  come  by  gradual  change 
from  Vlackte-Bosch,  through  the  intermediate  forms 
of  Flackebos,  Flackbash,  and  Flatbos.  The  name 
was  from  the  first  more  or  less  in  use,  although  the 
official  designation  was  Middlewout,  as  between 
Breuckelen  and  Nieuw  Amersfoordt.     In  the  form 


THE  FIRST  DUTCH  CHURCH.  95 

of  Midwout  this  name  was  retained  until  after  the 
Revolution." 

Although  receiving  its  patent'  before  Nieuw 
Utrecht  and  Boswijck,  Vlackbosch  was,  from  its 
inland  situation,  the  last  settled  of  the  Dutch  towns. 
Its  first  inhabitants,  coming  from  1645  to  1650, 
were  farmers  attracted  from  Gravesend  and  Nieuw 
Utrecht  by  its  more  fertile  lands.  After  the  incor- 
poration of  the  town  and  the  grant  of  part  of  the 
Canarsie  meadows  to  the  "  Indwellers  of  Midwout," 
its  growth  was  rapid.  By  1670,  it  had  pushed  out 
into 'T  Oostwout — the  East  Woods,  which  as  settled 
become  the  New  Lots.' 

Very  early  in  the  planting  of  Midwout  the  first 
Dutch  Church  on  Long  Island  *  was  organised,  De- 
cember 17,  1654,  and  the  specifications  were  given 
for  building  a  house  at  Midwout,  "sixty  feet  by 
twenty,  where  a  chamber  eight  by  fourteen  may  be 
partitioned  off  in  the  rear  for  the  preacher,  where 

'  Mr.  Bergen  says  Midwout  and  Oostwout  were  named  from  vil- 
lages on  the  Zuider  Zee.  The  Dutch  were  unquestionably  fond  of 
repeating  their  home  names,  but  here  the  topography  is  in  each  case 
a  sufficient  origin.  Midwout  was  a  densely  wooded  region  between 
the  flat  lands  on  either  side.  The  centre  of  the  town  was  ' '  'T  Dorp  "  ; 
the  northern  part,  "  'T  Steenrapp  "  (Stone-gathering,  from  raapen,  to 
reap),  and  the  southern  was  Rustenburgh.  A  brickyard  was  early  in 
operation  and  called  "  'T  Steenbakken." 

'  November  26,  1652. 

*  In  1852  New  Lots  was  set  off  from  Flatbush  as  a  distinct 
township. 

■•  There  were  then  but  two  churches  in  the  Province,  the  Collegiate 
Dutch  Church  of  Nieuw  Amsterdam,  built  in  1633,  on  the  north  side 
of  Pearl  Street,  half  way  between  Whitehall  Street  and  Broadway, 
and  the  North  Dutch  Church  of  Fort  Orange,  built  in  1643. 


96  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

divine  service  may  be  held  in  the  front  part  until 
we  have  more  funds  and  the  material  necessary  for 
a  church  has  been  collected.  Then  this  building 
shall  be  used  as  a  parsonage  and  barn." 

The  building  of  the  church  began  the  next  year 
under  the  direction  of  the  Domine  Megapolensis. 
The  edifice  was  in  form  of  a  cross.  The  work  went 
slowly  on,  and  was  not  completed  for  several  years. 
People  in  Nieuw  Amersfoordt  who  were  to  share  in 
its  services  were  to  aid  in  "  cutting  and  hauling 
wood."  The  church  was  finally  finished  at  a  cost 
of  four  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
guilders  ($1854.80),  of  which  nearly  one-tenth  was 
raised  by  Flatbush,  and  the  amount  made  up  by 
Nieuw  Amsterdam,  Fort  Orange,  and  the  West  India 
Company,  the  source  of  all  unusual  supplies  to  the 
colony.' 

The  first  Domine,  coming  in  August,  1652,  was 
Johannes  Theodorus  Polhemus,  a  former  missionary 
to  Brazil.    He  preached  at  Flatbush  in  the  morning, 

'  December  19,  1656,  a  Director  of  the  Company  writes  from  Am- 
sterdam :  ' '  We  should  have  sent  you  the  bells  for  the  villages  of 
Heemstead  and  Midwout,  but  as  they  cannot  be  found  ready  made, 
and  the  time  for  making  them  is  too  short,  you  will  have  to  wait 
until  spring. " 

December  20,  1659,  Domine  Polhemus  and  Jan  Strieker  address 
the  ' '  Noble,  Rigourous  and  Honourable  Gentlemen ,  and  Honour- 
able Director-General  of  the  Council  in  Nieuw  Nederlandt,"  saying 
that  the  church  in  Midwout,  "now,  with  God's  help  nearly  com- 
pleted, requires  according  to  our  and  many  of  the  people's  opinion, 
a  coat  of  colour  and  oil  to  make  it  last  longer,  being  covered  on  the 
outside  mostly  with  boards.  These  materials  must  necessarily  be 
brought  from  the  Fatherland,  and  we  request  it  to  be  done  upon 
your  Honour's  order  to  the  Honourable  Company." 


DOMINES  IN  FLATBUSH.  97 

and  in  the  afternoon  alternately  at  Breuckelen  '  and 
Nieuw  Amersfoordt.  On  his  arrival  the  Director- 
General  called  the  congregation  together  for  their  ap- 
proval of  him.  They  consented  to  receive  him,  and  to 
pay  a  salary  of  one  thousand  and  forty  guilders.  Later 
the  people  of  Breuckelen  objected  to  paying  their  pro- 
portion, on  the  plea  that  his  sermons  were  too  short. 
From  1705  to  1743  the  Domine  of  Flatbush  was 
the  learned  Bernardus  Freeman  from  Schenectady. 
Besides  volumes  of  sermons,  he  published,  for  the 
edification  of  his  cure,  De  Spiegel  der  Self-Kennis, 
a  collection  of  ancient  philosophical  maxims.  It  is 
pleasant  to  think  that  the  wisdom  of  Marcus  Aure- 
lius  and  of  Epictetus  illumined  the  placid  lives  of 
these  quiet  bouweries. 

A  man  of  very  different  type  was  Johannes  Cas- 
perus  Rubell "  "  Minister  of  the  Gospel  and  Chymi- 

'  Domine  Polhemus  died  in  Breuckelen,  June  8,  1676,  and  was 
buried  in  the  Doop-huys  of  the  church  there. 

'  6n  first  coming  to  America,  Rubell  was  in  charge  of  a  German 
church  in  Philadelphia,  but  so  insubordinate  was  he  to  his  spiritual 
superiors,  that  in  1755  the  Cetus  desired  "the  rebellious  Rubell" 
to  resign.  Thence  he  went  to  Rhinebeck  on  the  Hudson  before 
going  to  Long  Island.  Mr.  Rubell  was  intensely  loyal  during  the 
Revolution,  always  praying  in  church  for  "  King  George  and  Queen 
Charlotte,  the  Princes  and  Princesses  of  the  Royal  Family,  and  the 
Upper  and  Lower  Houses  of  Parliament."  From  his  pulpit  in  Flat- 
bush  he  denounced  those  opposed  to  the  Government,  as  ' '  Satan's  Sol- 
diers,'' sure  of  eternal  damnation.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  was 
deposed  from  the  ministry  and  turned  his  attention  to  his  various  phar- 
maceutical preparations.  He  was  buried  at  Flatbush,  his  stone,  one  of 
the  many  old  Dutch  memorials  in  that  primitive  churchyard,  inscribed 

' '  Totgedachteniss  van 
Job's  Gasp's  Rubel  V.  D.  M. 
Geborenden  6de  March  O.  S.  1719 
Overleiden  den  19  de  Maii,  1797." 
7 


98  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

cus,"  who  announces  in  1788  that  "it  has  pleased 
Almighty  God  to  give  me  the  wisdom  to  find  out 
the  Golden  Mother  Tincture  and  such  a  universal  pill 
as  will  cure  most  diseases.  I  have  studied  European 
Physics  in  four  different  Languages.  I  dont  take 
much  money  as  I  want  no  more  than  a  small  living 
whereto  God  will  give  His  blessing." 

The  first  school  in  Flatbush  was  opened  in  1658-9, 
by  Adrian  Hegeman.  A  little  later,  Johannes  van 
Eckellen,  Clerk  of  the  Church,  was  employed  by  the 
Consistory  as  schoolmaster.  The  Articles  of  Agree- 
ment, drawn  up  in  1682,  were  minute  in  specifications : 

"  (i)  The  School  shall  begin  at  8  o'clock  in  the 
morning  and  go  out  at  11  o'clock.  It  shall  begin 
again  at  i  o'clock  and  end  at  4  o'clock. 

"  (2)  When  the  School  shall  open,  one  of  the 
children  shall  read  the  morning  prayer  as  it  stands 
in  the  Catechism  and  close  with  the  prayer  before 
dinner.  In  the  afternoon,  it  shall  begin  with  the 
prayer  after  dinner,  and  close  with  the  evening 
prayer.  The  evening  school  shall  begin  with  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  close  by  singing  a  Psalm. 

"  (3)  He  shall  instruct  the  children  in  the  Com- 
mon Prayer,  and  the  Questions  &  Answers  of  the 
Catechism  on  Wednesday  and  Saturday  to  enable 
them  to  say  their  Catechism  on  Sunday  afternoon  in 
the  Church.  He  shall  demean  himself  patiently  and 
friendly  toward  the  children  in  their  instruction  and 
be  active  and  attentive  in  their  improvement. 

"  (4)  He  shall  be  bound  to  keep  his  School  nine 
months  in  succession  from  September  to  June,  and 
always  to  be  present  himself. 


THE  FIRST  COURT-HOUSE.  99 

"  He  shall  receive  for  a  speller  or  a  reader,  in  the 
day-school,  3  guilders,  for  a  quarter,  and  for  a  writer, 

4  guilders.  In  the  evening  school,  he  shall  receive 
for  a  speller  or  a  reader,  4  guilders,  and  for  a  writer 

5  guilders  per  quarter.  The  residue  of  his  salary 
shall  be  400  guilders  in  wheat  of  wampum  value 
deliverable  at  Breuckelen  Ferry,  and  for  his  services 
from  October  to  May,  234  guilders  in  wheat  at  the 
same  place,  with  the  dwelling,  pasturage  and  meadow 
appertaining  to  the  school." 

As  Clerk,  his  duties  were  to  act  as  chorister,  to 
ring  the  bell  three  times  ;  to  read  a  chapter  from  the 
Bible,  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  twelve  Articles 
of  Faith,  and  a  Psalm.  "  When  the  Minister  shall 
preach  at  Breuckelen  or  Nieuw  Amersfoordt,  to 
read  twice  before  the  Congregation,  a  Sermon.  He 
shall  provide  a  basin  of  water  for  the  baptism  for 
which  he  shall  receive  12  stuyvers  in  wampum  from 
the  parents.  He  shall  furnish  bread  and  wine  for 
the  Communion  at  the  charge  of  the  Church.  He 
shall  act  as  Messenger  for  the  Consistory.  He  shall 
give  funeral  invitations  and  toll  the  bell  for  which  he 
shall  receive  for  persons  of  fifteen  and  upwards  12 
guilders,  and  for  under  fifteen,  8  guilders." 

Flatbush  was  the  original  seat  of  justice  for  the 
present  Kings  County,  from  1658,  until  the  building, 
under  English  rule,  ten  years  later,  of  a  Court  House 
at  Gravesend.  But,  in  1686,  the  Courts  resumed 
their  sessions  at  Flatbush  as  the  more  central  place, 
and  there  they  remained  until  1832.  A  second  Court 
House  was  built  which  stood  until  1758. 

The  early  comers  to   Vlacht-bosch  widened   an 


lOO  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Indian  trail  over  the  hills  of  Prospect  Park,  down  to 
the  wooded  plains  at  the  south,  into  a  cart-road  run- 
ning from  the  Old  Ferry  through  Nieuw  Amers- 
foordt  and  Nieuw  Utrecht  to  Gravesend.  As  a 
stage  route  and  post-road  it  kept  its  rural  character 
far  into  the  present  half-century,  but  as  Flatbush 
Avenue,  its  native  charms  have  wellnigh  disap- 
peared. In  clearing  the  country,  the  magnificent 
trees  of  the  dense  forest  were  left  by  the  roadsides, 
great  oaks  and  chestnuts,  tulip-trees  and  sweet-gum, 
black  walnut  and  sycamore,  ample  of  girth,  stately 
of  stature.  One  of  a  historic  group  of  fine  old  lindens 
still  stands  before  a  well  preserved  mansion  of  colo- 
nial note.  In  its  fluttering  shade,  Washington  had 
drawn  rein,  and  there  the  English  had  pitched  their 
tents.  The  first  itinerant  Methodists  had  preached 
under  its  green  dome,  and,  the  centre  of  an  idyllic 
rural  life,  here,  as  around  Goldsmith's  village  haw- 
thorn, were 

"  Seats  beneath  the  shade 
For  talking  age  and  whispering  lovers  made." 

Along  this  road  there  stood  at  intervals  broad- 
roofed,  dormer-windowed  farmhouses  built  of  wood 
and  stone.  With  unbroken  sweep  from  ridge  pole 
downward,  the  roof  extended  to  form  the  welcoming 
porch,  the  gathering  place  of  summer  evenings.  As 
the  eighteenth  century  advanced,  houses  of  a  dif- 
ferent type  were  built.  In  Flatbush  Village  was 
Melrose  Hall,  the  stately  home  of  Colonel  William 
Axtel  from  the  West  Indies.  During  the  Revolu- 
tion it  was  the  centre  of  the  Loyalists,  and  suffered 


SOSWIJCK.  lOI 

more  than  one  siege  from  its  turbulent  neighbours. 
But  here,  perhaps,  the  English  conquest  had  less 
influence  than  in  any  other  spot  in  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt ;  here  have  lingered  longest,  and  have  been 
abandoned  most  reluctantly,  the  speech,  the  domes- 
tic habits,  and  the  social  economy  of  our  Dutch 
ancestors. 

Bushwick,  latest  incorporated  of  the  Five  Dutch 
Towns,  had  but  brief  history  during  the  waning  rule 
of  Holland.  Its  land  was  bought  from  the  Indians 
by  the  West  India  Company  for  a  little  wampum,  a 
few  yards  of  cloth,  and  some  dozen  edge-tools.*  The 
first  settlement  was  made  by  a  few  Swedes  and  Nor- 
wegians, then  called  Normans,  from  whom  Bushwick 
Creek  received  its  early  name  of  The  Normans'  Kill. 

February  i6,  1660,  fourteen  Frenchmen  and  their 
interpreter,  Peter  Jan  De  Witt,  arrived  in  Nieuw 
Amsterdam  and  asked  the  Director-General  to  lay 
out  for  them  a  town-plot.  On  the  19th,  he  came, 
with  Jacques  Corlear,  the  "  sworn  surveyour  "  of  the 
Province,  to  select  a  "  scite "  for  them.  It  was 
chosen  between  the  Mespatches  Kill  and  The  Nor- 
mans' Kill,  where  twenty-two  lots  were  surveyed. 
At  a  second  visit,  three  weeks  later,  the  people 
begged  him  to  name  the  new  town.  Stuyvesant 
called  the  forest  village  Boswijck,  and  in  the  few  re- 
maining years  of  his  administration  it  was  the  object 
of  his  most  thoughtful  solicitude. 

As  the  few  earlier  settlers  were  living  on  scattered 

'  Eight  fathoms  of  wampum,  eight  fathoms  duffels,  twelve  kettles, 
eight  axes,  eight  adzes,  some  knives  and  awls. 


I02  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

plantations  exposed  to  attack,  the  Director-General 
ordered  them  to  remove  and  to  concentrate  them- 
selves about  the  embryo  town, — "  because  we  have 
war  with  the  Indians,  who  have  slain  several  of  our 
Nieuw  Nederlandter  people."  A  blockhouse  was 
then  built  by  the  colonists  at  'T  Waale-Boght,  at 
'T  Kiekeout — Lookout  Point,  on  the  East  River, 
near  the  present  foot  of  South  Fourth  Street. 

Deference  to  magistrates  was  strictly  enforced  in 
all  the  Dutch  Towns.  The  Records  of  1664  give 
the  sentence  of  Jan  Willemsen  van  Iselsteyn,  com- 
monly called  Jan  van  Leyden,  for  using  "abusive 
language,"  and  for  writing  "  an  insolent  letter "  to 
the  authorities  of  Bushwick.  He  was  "to  be  bound 
to  the  stake  at  the  place  of  public  execution,  with  a 
bridle  in  his  mouth,  rods  under  his  arms,  and  a  paper 
on  his  breast  with  the  inscription — '  Lampoon-riter, 
False  Accuser,  Defamer  of  Magistrates,'  and  to  be 
banished,  with  costs." 

Until  aftel-  the  Revolution,  the  township  included 
within  the  later  suburb  of  that  name  three  distinct 
hamlets, — "  Het  Dorp,"  the  town,  clustered  about 
the  church  ;  "  Het  Kwis  Padt,"  the  cross-roads,  upon 
the  Flushing  Road ;  and  "  Het  Strandt,"  on  the 
shore  of  the  East  River. 

A  boundary  quarrel  existed  between  Bushwick 
and  Newtown  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  be- 
ginning in  the  time  of  Stuyvesant,  who  loved  Bush- 
wick, the  youngest  child  of  his  government,  and 
hated  Newtown.  Lord  Cornbury  sought  to  end  the 
matter  by  appropriating  the  disputed  ground,  a  tract 
of  some  twelve  hundred  acres  along  the  Mespatches 


CENSUS  OF   THE  DUTCH   TOWNS.  I03 

Kill.  Long  after  its  legal  settlement,'  it  was  a  sorely 
mooted  point  between  the  rival  townspeople.  But 
time  heals  all  wounds.  Even  the  former  Arbitration 
Rock,  which  long  remained  a  witness  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood feud  and  of  its  final  adjustment,  has  been 
blasted  into  fragments  and  the  contending  town- 
ships are  merged  within  the  one  great  city. 

The  Five  Dutch  towns  throve  under  the  English 
rule.  The  census  of  1698,  "  within  the  King's 
County  on  Nassauw  Island," "  gives  a  list  of  free- 
holders, their  wives  and  children,  their  apprentices 
and  slaves,  which  sums  up  the  population  as  follows : 

Brookland 511 

Boswick 301 

New  Vtrecht 259 

Fflatlands  als  New  Amesfoort     .  256 

Fflatbush  als  Midwout  ....  476 

In  1715,  was  published'  "A  True  List  of  the 
Militia  Regiment  of  King's  County,"  which  roster 
preserves  many  of  the  old  Dutch  names  first  upon 
the  Island,  names  ever  to  be  honoured  by  their 
descendants  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land. 

'  January  17,  1769. 

^  New  York  Documentary  History^  vol.  iii. ,  pp.  133-8. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  183. 


VI. 


LADY   MOODY  S   PLANTATION. 


DECEMBER  19,  1645,  the  Director-General 
Kieft  issued  a  document  without  precedent 
among  territorial  grants.  It  was  no  less 
than  a  patent  of  the  town  of  Gravesend  to  a  woman. 
For,  though  with  her  were  associated  her  son,  Sir 
Henry  Moody,  "  Barronett,"  the  ensign,  George 
Baxter,'  and  Sergeant  James  Hubbard,  "Ye  hon- 
oured Lady  Deborah  Moody  "  was  the  chief  paten- 
tee. It  was  she  who  led  the  colony  hither,  who 
dreamed  of  future  prosperity  and  peace,  who  wisely 
planned  its  agricultural  and  commercial  develop- 
ment, who  opened  its  doors  to  wayfarers  of  what- 
ever creed,  and  who  for  thirteen  years  gave  to  it 
the  benign  influence  of  a  refined  and  accomplished 
woman  of  more  than  ordinary  power  of  mind. 

There  is  little  from  which  to  reconstruct  the  life 

'  Afterward,  with  no  honourable  record,  English  secretary  to  Kieft. 
He  was  appointed  at  a  salary  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  guilders  the 
year,  "  in  consideration  of  his  talents  and  knowledge  of  the  Enghsh 
Language  and  of  Law."  In  1663,  he  appeared  before  Parliament  to 
incite  the  conquest  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  and  returned  thither  with 
the  English  army. 

104 


DEBORAH    LADY  MOODY.  IO5 

of  this  colonial  heroine.  Born  Deborah  Dunch  of 
Avesbury,  a  kinswoman  of  Oliver  Cromwell,'  she 
married  the  baronet,  Sir  Henry  Moody,  one  of 
James's  later  creations,  and  was  early  widowed. 
The  life  of  an  English  dowager  may  easily  have 
been  a  fettered  one  to  this  young  woman  of  excep- 
tional force.  She  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the 
inquisitorial  Star  Chamber  by  a  too  long  sojourn  in 
London,  and  the  paper  exists  in  which  "  Dame 
Deborah  Mowdie  "  and  others  are  ordered  to  return 
to  their  "  hereditaments "  within  forty  days.  In 
1640,  eight  years  after  her  husband's  death,  she 
came  to  Massachusetts  and  joined  the  church  of 
Salem,"  but  was  allotted  four  hundred  acres  of  land 
at  Lynn.°  The  next  year  she  bought  the  Swamps- 
cott  farm  of  John  Humphrey  for  ;£'iioo.' 

But  it  was  a  time  and  place  of  fierce  theological 
disputation  and  ecclesiastical  tyranny.  Roger  Wil- 
liams had  sowed  good  seed  before  his  flight,  and 
there  were  not  a  few  intelligent,  clear-headed  men 

'  Her  father  was  a  member  of  Parliament  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 
The  family  had  been  always  staunch  supporters  of  the  people  and  of 
constitutional  rights. 

'^  Admitted  April  5,  1640. 

'  Granted  by  the  General  Court,  May  13,  1640.  It  was  still  in  her 
possession  in  1649,  as  shown  by  letters  from  her  agent  to  Daniel 
King,  tenant  of  the  farm  at  Lynn.  That  she  retained  her  property 
in  Salem,  also,  is  indicated  by  the  note  in  Felt's  History  of  Salem, — 
"November  4th,  1650:  Dreadful  tempest.  Lady  Moody's  House 
unroofed." 

■*  In  Thomas  Lechford's  Plain  Dealing,  or,  Nevves  from  New 
England,  written  in  1642,  he  says:  "The  Lady  Moody  lives  at 
Lynn  but  is  of  Salem  Church.  She  is  (good  lady)  almost  undone  by 
buying  Master  Humphries  farm  at  Swampscott  which  cost  her  9 
or  HOC  pounds." 


I06  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

and  women  ready,  if  need  be,  again  to  forsake  home 
and  friends  to  exercise  the  right  of  free  thought. 
By  birth  and  position  as  well  as  by  masterful  traits 
of  character,  Lady  Moody  was  a  natural  leader. 
When  she  was  arraigned  before  the  church  of  Salem, 
for  the  grave  heresy  of  questioning  if  the  rite  of 
infant  baptism  be  of  divine  appointment,'  she  had 
many  sympathisers  who  soon  joined  her  in  seeking 
a  new  home." 

Governor  Winthrop  mentions  her  case  briefly : 
"  In  1643,  Lady  Moody  was  in  the  Colony  of  Massa- 
chusetts, a  wise  and  anciently  religious  woman,  but 
being  taken  with  the  error  of  denying  baptism  to 
infants  was  dealt  with  by  many  of  the  elders,  and 
admonished  by  the  Church  of  Salem,  but  persisting 
still,  and  to  avoid  further  trouble  she  removed  to 
New  Netherlands,  against  the  advice  of  her  friends. 
Many  others  affected  with  Anabaptism  moved  there 
also."  The  next  year  Endicott  writes  Winthrop 
not  to  permit  her  return  to  Massachusetts,  "  ffor  shee 
is  a  dangerous  woman." " 

'  "Dec.  14,  1642.  At  the  Quarterly  Court,  I-ady  Deborah  Moody, 
Mrs.  King  and  the  wife  of  John  Tilton  were  presented  for  houlding 
that  the  baptism  of  infants  is  not  ordained  of  God." — Lynn  Records. 

^  "  June  12,  1643  :  Lady  Deborah  Moody  is  admonished  here  for 
denying  infant  baptism.  To  avoid  further  trouble  she  moves  among 
the  Dutch  on  Long  Island  where  she  exerted  considerable  influence. 
She  was  afterward  excommunicated  by  the  Salem  Church.  Many 
while  embracing  her  ideas  on  Baptism  removed  from  the  colony 
and  followed  her." — Lynn  Records. 

About  this  time,  the  Reverend  Thomas  Cobbett,  of  Lynn,  writes 
John  Winthrop  that  "  My  Lady  Moody  is  to  sitt  down  on  Long 
Island,  from  vnder  civil  and  church  watch,  among  the  Dutch." 

'  Later,  a  reciprocal  friendship  and  exchange  of  good  offices  existed 


LADY  MOODY'S  LIBRARY.  lOf 

As  the  head  of  this  enterprise,  Judge  Benson  calls 
Lady  Moody  the  Dido  leading  the  colony.  An 
equivocal  comparison  this,  for  there  could  be  slight 
resemblance  between  the  fair  and  frail  Phoenician 
princess,  and  the  grave  Puritan  dame  whose  habits 
of  thought  and  closet  companions  are  shown  by  the 
list  of  books  belonging  to  her  son,  in  an  inventory 
made  shortly  after  her  death.  It  is  for  the  time 
and  place,  a  most  noteworthy  collection  : 

"  Cathologus  contining  the  names  of  such  books 
as  Sir  Henry  Moodie  had  left  in  securitie  in  hands 
of  Daniel  Litscho  wen  hy  went  for  Virginia  : — 

"  A  latyn  Bible  in  folio. 

"  A  written  book  in  folio  contining  private  matters 
of  State.' 

"  A  written  book  contining  private  matters  of  the 
King. 

between  Lady  Moody  and  the  younger  Winthrop,  as  shown  by  the 
following,  one  of  many  similar  letters,  written  in  1649  : 

"  Wurthi  Sur.  My  respective  love  to  you,  remembering  and 
acknowledging  your  many  kindnesses  and  respect  to  me.  I  have 
written  divers  lines  to  you,  but  I  doubt  you  have  not  received  it.  At 
present  being  in  haste  I  cannot  unlay  myselfe,  but  my  request  is 
yt  you  will  be  pleased  by  this  note,  if  in  jfour  wisdom  you  see  not  a 
convenienter  opertunitie  to  send  me  those  things  yt  Mr.  Throg- 
morton  bought  for  me,  and  I  understand  are  with  you,  for  I  am  in 
greate  neede  of  ym,  together  with  Marke  Lucar's  chest  and  other 
things. 

"So,  with  my  respective  love  to  you  &  your  wife  &  Mrs.  Locke 
remembered,  hoping  you  and  they  with  youre  children  are  in  helth, 
I  rest ;  committing  you  to  ye  protection  of  ye  Almighty.  Pray  re- 
member my  necessity  in  this  thing. 

"  Deborah  Moody." 

'  Sir  Henry  Moody,  the  elder,  had  held  a  confidential  position  at 
the  Court  of  James  I. 


I08  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  Seventeen  severall  books  of  devinitie  matters. 

"  A  dictionarius  of  Latin  and  English. 

"  Sixteen  severall  latin  and  Italian  books  of  divers 
matters. 

"  A  book  in  folio  contining  the  voage  of  Ferdinant 
Mendoz,  &c. 

"  A  book  in  folio  Kalleth  Sylva  Sylvarum. 

"  A  book  in  quarto  Kalleth  bartas'  six  days  work 
of  the  lord  and  translated  in  English  by 
Joshua  Sylvester. 

"  A  Book  in  quarto  Kalleth  the  Summe  and  Sub- 
stans  of  the  conference  which  it  pleased 
His  Excellent  Maj"'  to  have  with  the  lords, 
bishops  &c  at  Hampton  Court  Contracteth 
by  William  Barlow. 

"  A  book  in  quarto  Kalleth  Ecclesiastica  Inter- 
pretatio,  or  the  Expositions  upon  the  Seven 
Epistles  calleth  Catholique  and  the  Revela- 
tion collected  by  John  Mayer. 

"  Eleven  several  books  more  of  divers  substants. 

"  The  verification  of  his  father's  knights  order 
given  by  King  James. 

"  Notarial  Register  of 

"  Solomon  La  Chaire. 

"  N.  P.  of  Nieuw  Amsterdam.     Anno  1661." 

One  is  led  into  pleasant  speculation  as  to  what 
may  have  been  the  twenty-seven  "  books  of  divers 
matters."  Herein  doubtless  lay  the  best  riches  of 
the  collection. 

The  seashore  region  to  which  Lady  Moody  came 
had    been    already  named    by   Kieft  from   Graven- 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.  I09 

sande'  on  the  Maas,  although  it  is  often  wrongly 
assumed  to  be  a  namesake  of  the  English  Graves- 
end.  In  1639,  the  Director-General  had  granted  a 
plantation  within  its  limits  to  Anthonie  Jansen  van 
Salee,  who  was  its  first  settler.  Four  years  later,  he 
was  given  a  hundred  morgens  of  land  "  over  against 
't  Conijen  Eylandt." "  It  is  curious  to  note  the  sharp 
contrasts  in  the  life  of  this  pioneer,  a  Hollander, 
long  a  dweller  among  the  Moors  on  the  African 
coast,  but  it  is  these  contrasts  which  give  to  our 
early  history  its  dramatic  character. 

There  is  little  doubt  from  the  frequent  references 
to  such  a  document,  that  an  informal  patent  was 
given  the  founder  of  the  colony  on  her  arrival  in 
June,  1643.  But  the  paper  was  soon  lost,  or  de- 
stroyed, and  it  was  more  than  two  years  before  the 
unique  patent  to  Lady  Moody  was  made  out.  It 
shows  the  influence  of  the  enlightened  patentee, 
particularly  in  the  clause  which  assured  liberty  of 
religious  opinion.  Worship  was  to  be  "without 
molestation  or  distruction  from  any  madgistrate,  or 
madgistrates,  or  other  ecclesiastical  minister  that 
may  p'tend  iurisdiction  over  them,  with  libertie  like- 
wise to  ye  s''  pattentees,  theyr  associates,  heyrs  and 
assigns  to  erect  a  body  pollitique  and  civill  combina- 

'  The  Count's  Strand,  where  the  Counts  of  Holland  held  their  Court 
before  its  removal  to  The  Hague — 'T  Hagen  (hedge)  along  the 
beautiful  Vyver.  In  some  old  records  the  name  appears  as  Gravens 
End. 

^  A  morgen  was  two  and  one-tenth  acres.  This  grant  on  the  site 
of  Unionville  was  made  May  27,  1643.  In  1644,  Guisbert  Op  Dyk 
received  forty-four  morgens  covering  part  of  Coney  Island,  and 
November  29,  1649,  eighty  morgens  were  given  to  Robert  Pennoyer. 


no  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

tion  among  themselves  as  free  men  of  this  Province 
and  of  the  Towne  of  Gravesend,  and  to  make  such 
civill  ordinances  as  the  maior  part  of  ye  Inhabitants 
flree  of  ye  towne  shall  think  fliitting  for  theyr  quiet 
and  peaceable  subsistence."  The  only  concession 
to  Dutch  usages  was  the  provision  that  New  Style 
should  be  used,  together  with  the  weights  and 
measures  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Indian  war  which  stained 
with  blood  the  chronicles  of  1643,  the  new-comers 
sought  brief  refuge  in  Nieuw  Amersfoordt,  but  re- 
turned to  their  home  in  the  early  fall.  In  October, 
Lady  Moody  and  her  forty  followers,  whose  abso- 
lute loyalty  was  hers,  there  held  their  ground,  under 
the  leadership  of  Nicholas  Stillwell  against  a  fierce 
onslaught  of  the  invading  Indians — the  same  insati- 
ate band  who  had  murdered  Anne  Hutchinson  but 
a  month  before.' 

The  village  was  soon  laid  out,  a  square  of  sixteen 
acres  surrounded  by  a  street, — the  "  Hye-waye,"  and 
cut  by  two  cross-streets  with  four  smaller  squares. 
These  were  each  divided  into  ten  lots,  on  which  the 
owners  built  around  a  "  common  yard  "  for  cattle  in 
the  centre.  The  farms,  or  "  Planters'  Lots  "  as  they 
were  called,  were  triangular,  bordering  the  street 
which  encompassed  the  town.  It  had  already  been 
voted  in  Town  Meeting  that  those  who  held  planta- 
tions should  be  given  a  hundred  acres  of  upland, 

'  "These  Indians  passed  on  to  Long  Island  and  there  assaulted 
the  Lady  Moody  in  her  house  divers  times,  for  there  were  forty  men 
gathered  there  to  defend  it."— Winthrop's  Hist.  New  England,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  164. 


THE   TO  WN  BOOKS.  1 1 1 

and  meadow  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  their 
cattle.  It  was  further  enacted  that  those  owners  of 
land  who  did  not  build  a  "  good  house  "  before  the 
end  of  May,  1644,  should  forfeit  their  land  to  the 
town. 

About  this  time  George  Baxter  wrote  from  "  Man- 
hatoes  Island  "  to  John  Winthrop,  the  younger:  "  I 
have  some  interest  in  a  place  not  yet  settled  on 
Long  Island,  and  so  commodious  that  I  have  not 
seene  or  knowne  a  better."  Here  it  was  that  Lady 
Moody  hoped  to  found  a  commercial  city  for  which 
the  situation  seemed  favourable.  But  the  anchorage 
of  the  bay  was  not  sufficient  for  large  vessels,  and 
her  attention  was  necessarily  turned  to  agriculture. 
Deeds  of  1650,  and  of  1654,  record  the  purchase  of 
more  land  from  the  Canarsies  with  whom  they  sus- 
tained most  friendly  relations.' 

The  Town  Books  give  a  continuous  record  from 
1646,  and  are  a  good  example  of  that  primitive  de- 
mocracy which  has  moulded  the  institutions  of  our 
country.  Although  never  present  in  the  "  Tunge- 
mote,"  it  is  quite  certain  that  Deborah,  Lady  Moody, 
was  the  controlling  influence  of  its  deliberations. 
As  in  all  these  early  records  in  which  Long  Island 
is  peculiarly  rich,  there  is  much  minute  legislation, 

'  One  of  the  Dutch  indwellers  writes  from  Gravesend  to  the  Di- 
rector-General, September  8,  1655,  that  they  are  sorely  threatened 
by  the  Indians,  and  adds  :  "We  hear  strange  reports  from  Heem- 
stede,  Newtown  and  elsewhere,  that  the  Indians  intend  to  pitch  out 
the  Dutch  from  among  the  English  in  order  to  destroy  them.  .  .  . 
The  water  is  already  up  to  our  lips,  and  if  we  once  leave  here  Long 
Island  is  no  longer  inhabitable  by  Dutch  people." — N.  Y.  Colonial 
Documents,  vol,  xiii.,  p.  40, 


112  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

much  which  throws  a  strong  hght  upon  the  creeds, 
the  habits  of  thought,  and  the  manners  of  the  time. 
Absence  from  Town  Meeting  was  punished  by  a  fine 
of  five  guilders.  One  was  not  then  lightly  to  shirk 
the  serious  duties  of  citizenship. 

The  English  Towns  within  the  Dutch  jurisdiction 
were  allowed  to  appoint  their  own  officers,  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  Director-General.  In  1654, 
Stuyvesant  removed  from  office  George  Baxter  and 
James  Hubbard,  for  alleged  violation  of  certain  con- 
ditions of  the  patent.  It  was  only  through  the  good 
offices  of  Lady  Moody  that  the  excitement  was 
quieted,  and  that  henceforth  no  objection  was  made 
to  the  nominations  of  the  freemen.  But  though  a 
mutual  admiration  and  trust  existed  between  the 
Lady  Moody  and  the  brave  Stuyvesant,  the  people 
of  Nieuw  Amsterdam  regarded  this  independent 
township  with  grave  disfavour.  "  The  scum  of  all 
New  England  is  drifting  into  Nieuw  Nederlandt," 
wrote  the  Domine  Megapolensis. 

The  circumstances,  or  the  exact  time,  of  Lady 
Moody's  death  are  not  known.  Contemporary 
documents  show  her  to  have  been  living  in  Novem- 
ber, 1658,  and  that  her  death  occurred  before  the 
next  spring.  She  probably  lies  in  one  of  the  many 
nameless  graves  in  the  old  burial-ground'  in  the 
centre  of  the  Southwest  Town  Square. 

The  people  of  Gravesend  were  widely  condemned 
as  Memnonists,  or  Anabaptists,"  but  it  is  thought 

'  There  was  no  other  until  1688,  when  the  will  of  John  Tilton  left 
land  "  for  all  Friends  in  the  everlasting  truthe  of  the  Gospell  as 
occasion  serves,  forever,  to  bury  theyre  dead  therein." 

«  Their  chief  tenets  were  negative,  in  the  rejection  of  infant  bap- 


THE  CHANGE  OF  FLAGS.  II3 

that  before  her  death  Lady  Moody  accepted  the 
belief  of  the  Friends.  The  first  Quaker  meeting  in 
America  was  held  at  her  house  in  1657,  by  Richard 
Hodgson  and  two  associates,  ones  of  that  party  of 
eleven  propagandists  who  had  then  crossed  the 
ocean.  From  their  welcome  here,  Gravesend  was 
called  the  "  Mecca  of  Quakerism,"  and  here  their 
prophet,  George  Fox,  came  from  Maryland  on  his 
first  visit  to  America. 

From  its  English  occupancy,  or  more  probably 
from  its  easy  approach,  Gravesend  was  the  spot  in 
Nieuw  Nederlandt  first  to  feel  the  tread  of  the  in- 
vading English  soldiery.  August  25,  1664,  Colonel 
NicoU  landed  on  the  shore  where,  just  one  hundred 
and  twelve  years  after,  Lord  Howe  disembarked  his 
troops,  and  marched  to  the  Breuckelen  Ferry  at  the 
head  of  three  hundred  regulars.  In  the  reorganisa- 
tion of  government  which  followed  the  seizure  of 
Nieuw  Nederlandt,  Gravesend  was  little  affected. 
In  1668,  the  Court  of  Sessions  was  removed  from 
Flatbush  to  Gravesend,  where  the  first  Court  House, 
of  Kings  County  was  then  built.     Eighteen  years 

tism,  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath,  and  an  ordained  ministry.  In 
the  spring  of  1660,  <i  few  inhabitants  of  Gravesend  petition  Stuy- 
vesant  to  send  them  a  clergyman,  begging  ' '  very  respectfully  to  show 
the  licentious  mode  of  living,  the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  the 
confusion  of  religious  opinion  prevalent  in  this  village,  so  that  many 
have  grown  cold  in  the  exercise  of  the  Christian  virtues  and  almost 
surpass  the  heathen  who  have  no  knowledge  of  God  and  his  Com- 
mandments. The  Words  of  the  wise  King  Solomon  are  applicable 
here,  that  when  Prophecy  ceases  the  people  grow  savage  and  licen- 
tious, and  as  the  fear  of  the  Lord  alone  holds  out  promises  of  tem- 
poral and  eternal  blessings,  we,  your  petitioners,  humbly  petition, 
&c." — Colonial  Documents  of  New  York,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  460. 


1 14  EARL  y  LONG  ISLAND. 

after,  the  Court  was  restored  to  Flatbush.  In  1693, 
Gravesend  became  one  of  the  three  ports  of  entry 
for  Long  Island. 

Although  surrounded  by  the  Dutch  Towns,  and 
having  many  Hollanders  within  its  limits,  so  distinc- 
tively had  Gravesend  maintained  its  English  charac- 
ter, that  there  were  no  religious  services  in  the  Dutch 
language  until  far  into  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
first  mention  of  a  church  is  in  1763,  when  its  register 
begins. 

In  1661,  Dirckde  Wolf  obtained  from  the  Amster- 
dam Chamber  a  monopoly  of  the  salt  works  in  Nieuw 
Nederlandt.  The  manufacture  was  carried  on  at 
Coney  Island,  of  which  he  then  received  a  grant. 
The  people  of  Gravesend  claimed  the  island '  and 
forced  him  to  leave,  although  a  body  of  soldiers 
had  been  sent  for  his  protection.  Coney  Island — 
'T  Conijen  Eylandt "- — in  those  days  comprised 
some  eighty  acres  of  land.  If  Verrazano's  Rela- 
tion is  verified,  it  was  the  first  spot  in  the  New 
World  between  Florida  and  the  vague  Norumbega 
touched  by  European  foot.  It  must  then,  with 
its  cedar-crowned  knolls  and  grassy  dells,  have 
been  a  very  different  scene  from  the  one  we  know. 
Nowhere  has  the  devastation  of  the  sea  been  more 
marked.  The  patent  to  Lady  Moody  gives  "  Libertie 
to  the  saide  pattentees,  their  associates,  heyres  and 
assigns  to  put  what  cattle  they  shall  think  fitting  to 

'  A  patent  thereof  had  been  given  to  Guisbert  op  Dyk,  May  24, 
1644. 

"  Judge  Benson  says  the  name,  usually  referred  to  the  abundance 
of  rabbits,  "  conijen,"  is  from  a  Dutch  family  named  Conyen,  but, 
by  M.  d'Iberville,  in  1701,  it  is  called  Isle  des  Lapins. 


'T  CONIJEN  EYLANDT.  Ilg 

feed  or  graze  upon  the  afforesaid  Conyne  Island." 
Thirty  years  later,  Bankers  and  Sluyter  write  in 
their  Journal,  that  it  is  "  covered  with  bushes.  No- 
body lives  upon  it,  but  it  is  used  in  winter  for  keep- 
ing cattle,  horses,  oxen,  hogs  and  others,  which  are 
able  to  obtain  there  sufficient  to  eat  the  whole  win- 
ter and  to  shelter  themselves  from  cold,  it  being 
much  warmer  than  Long  Island  or  Nieuw  Amster- 
dam." 

With  such  changes  in  topography  and  in  occupa- 
ion,  one  can  well  fancy  the  eternal  waves  surprised' 
at  the  metamorphosis  wrought,  as  but  two  brief 
centuries  after.  Vanity  Fair  has  reared  its  booths 
on  its  white,  fast  receding  sands. 


VII. 


THE  NORTH   RIDING  OF  YORKSHIRE. 


WHILE  the  Hollander  and  the  Huguenot 
were  impressing  their  character  on  the 
extreme  west  of  Long  Island,  there  was 
no  organised  attempt  at  the  colonisation  of  the 
region  now  known  as  Queens  County. 

As  already  said,  in  January,  1639,  Kieft  had 
bought  from  the  Chief  of  the  Manhassets,  all  the 
land  east  of  Rockaway  to  Fire  Island,  and  north  to 
Martin  Gerretsen's  Bay,  thus  adding  the  Indian  title 
to  the  Dutch  rights  of  discovery.  But  a  few  iso- 
lated plantations,  an  occasional  bouwerie  and  a 
nominal  jurisdiction,  alone  represented  the  owner- 
ship by  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  Meanwhile,  New  Eng- 
land men  soon  began  to  possess  the  land. 

The  Queen's  County  has  borne  but  two  cen- 
turies its  regal  name,  given  in  honour  of  the 
poor,  homesick  Catharine  of  Braganza.  The  first 
settlements  within  its  domain  were  known  as  the 
English  Towns,  and  distinctly  acknowledged  the 
Dutch  supremacy.  After  the  English  capture  of 
Nieuw  Nederlandt,  in  the   Hempstead  Convention 

116 


YORKSHIRE  AND  ITS  RIDINGS.  WJ 

of  1664,  Long  Island,  Staten  Island,  and  West- 
chester County  were  erected  into  the  single  ad- 
ministrative district  of  Yorkshire.  The  present 
Suffolk  County  formed  its  East  Riding ;  Staten 
Island,  the  Five  Dutch  Towns,  Newtown,  and 
Gravesend  made  the  West  Riding ;  while  West- 
chester County  with  the  Long  Island  townships  of 
Flushing,  Jamaica,  Hempstead,  and  Oyster  Bay 
were  incorporated  as  the  North  Riding.  This  divi- 
sion continued  until  the  Ridings  were  abolished  by 
Governor  Dongan  nearly  twenty  years  later.  The 
existing  system  of  counties  was  established  by  the 
Colonial  Assembly,  November  i,  1683,  with  the  ad- 
ditional Duke's  County,  comprising  Martha's  Vine- 
yard, Nantucket  and  the  Elizabeth  Islands,  and  the 
County  of  Cornwall,  organised  from  the  far  away 
Pemaquid. 

The  first  attempt  of  the  English  to  establish 
themselves  within  the  present  bounds  of  Queens 
County,  was  in  the  township  of  Hempstead,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1640.  As  Winthrop  quaintly  begins 
the  story  of  their  thwarted  efforts :  "  Divers  in- 
habitants of  Linne  finding  themselves  straitened, 
looked  out  for  a  new  plantation  and  agreed  with 
Lord  Sterling's  agent  there,  one  Mr.  Farret,  for  a 
parcel  of  the  isle  near  west  end,  and  agreed  with 
the  Indians  for  their  right."  '     It  is  elsewhere  noted 

'  Winthrop  continues  his  account  as  follows  :  "  The  Dutch  hearing 
this  and  making  claim  to  that  part  of  the  island  by  a  former  pur- 
chase of  the  Indians,  sent  men  to  take  possession  of  the  place,  and 
to  set  up  the  Arms  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  upon  a  tree.  The  Linne 
men  sent  ten  or  twelve  men  with  provisions,  etc. ,  who  began  to  build 


Il8  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

that  they  bought  of  Farret,  for  four  bushels  of 
maize,  the  privilege  of  buying  from  the  Indians  a 
tract  of  land,  eight  miles  square,  wherever  they 
might  choose  to  establish  themselves. 

The  Dutch  possessed  at  this  time,  by  purchase 
from  the  Indians,  as  well  as  by  right  of  Adrian 
Block's  discoveries  in  the  Onrust,  and  by  actual 
occupation,  the  land,  as  far  east  as  Oyster  Bay, 
while  the  part  of  the  Island  farther  to  the  east 
was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Indians.  Long  before, 
William  Alexander,  later,  first  Earl  of  Sterling,  am- 
bitious to  found  a  New  Scotland  that  might  rival 
New  France  and  New  England,  received  from 
James  I.,  in  162 1,  a  grant  for  "  Nova  Scotia,"  which 
included  Long  Island.    His  son,  Viscount  of  Canada, 

and  took  down  the  prince's  arms,  and  in  place  thereof,  an  Indian 
had  drawn  an  unhandsome  face.  The  Dutch  took  this  in  high  dis- 
pleasure, and  sent  soldiers  and  fetched  away  their  men  and  impris- 
oned them  a  few  days,  and  then  took  an  oath  of  them  and  so 
discharged  them.  Upon  this,  the  Linne  men  (finding  themselves 
too  weak  and  having  no  encouragement  to  expect  aid  from  the 
English)  deserted  the  place  and  took  another  at  the  East  end  of 
the  same  island.  .  .  .  Upon  this  occasion  the  Dutch  Governour, 
one  William  Kyfte  (a  discreet  man),  wrote  to  our  Governour  com- 
plaint of  the  English  usurpation  both  at  Connecticut,  and  now  also 
on  Long  Island,  and  of  the  abuse  offered  to  the  prince's  arms,^tc., 
and  thereupon  excused  his  imprisoning  our  men.  To  which  our 
Governour  returned  answer  (in  Latin,  his  letter  being  also  in  the 
same)  that  our  desire  had  always  been  to  hold  peace  and  good  cor- 
respondency with  all  our  neighbours,  and  though  we  would  not 
maintain  any  of  our  countrymen  in  an  unjust  Action,  yet  we  might 
not  suffer  them  to  be  injured,  etc.  As  for  our  neighbours  in  Con- 
necticut, etc.,  he  knew  they  were  not  under  our  Governour,  and  for 
those  at  Long  Island  they  went  voluntarily  from  us." — History  of 
New  England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  5. 


THk  GRANT  TO  LORD  STERLING.  I19 

and  Earl  of  Sterling,  gained  from  the  Plymouth 
Company,  April  22,  1635,  a  patent  for  the  "  County 
of  Canada,  Long  Island,  and  Islands  adjacent." 
The  Plymouth  Company  surrendered  their  rights 
to  the  Crown  in  June,  and  the  next  year,  the  grant 
to  Lord  Sterling  was  confirmed  by  King  Charles. 

Lord  Sterling's  claim  was  long  maintained  by  his 
heirs,  direct  and  collateral.  In  1663,  Henry,  Earl 
of  Sterlynge,  petitioned  for  these  lands  conveyed 
to  his  grandfather,  "  being  part  of  New  England 
and  an  Island  adjacent  called  Long  Island,  with 
power  of  judicature  to  be  held  of  the  Council  per 
gladium  comitatus.  .  .  .  Your  petitioner's  grand- 
father and  father  and  himself  theyre  heyre,  have 
respectively  enjoyed  the  same  and  have  at  great 
coste  planted  many  places  on  the  Island,  but  of  late 
the  Dutch  have  intruded  on  several  parts  thereof." 

In  reply,  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  on  behalf  of 
James,  promised  to  pay  him  for  his  interest  in  Long 
Island  ;£^3S00,  which  it  is  needless  to  say  he  never 
received.  In  1674,  in  consideration  of  "releasing 
all  pretence  of  Right  and  title  to  the  Colony  of 
New  York  in  America,  whereof  Long  Island  is  a 
part,"  the  Duke  did  grant  to  the  said  Earl  of  Ster- 
ling, a  "  Pension  of  300  pounds  P.  Ann.  out  of  the 
surplusage  of  the  Neat  Proffits  and  Revenue  of  the 
said  Colony,  all  manner  of  charges  civil  and  mihtary 
being  deducted.  .  .  .  But  there  have  not  accrued 
any  Neat  Profits  .  .  .  and  we  at  Hampton  Court, 
August  1689,  humbly  offer  our  opinion  that  the 
pension  and  arrears  be  paid. 

"  Approved  by  the  King." 


I20  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

But  approval  was  not  payment;  and  in  1760,  the 
then  Earl  of  Sterling  appealed  to  King  George,  re- 
hearsing the  above  statement ;  "  James,  Duke  of 
York  having  the  design  to  plant  an  English  colony 
between  the  Rivers  of  Connecticut  and  Delaware  by 
name  of  the  Province  of  New  York  and  to  drive 
the  Dutch  from  their  settlement  at  Nieuw  Amster- 
dam, and  hearing  much  of  the  goodness  of  the  soil 
of  the  Island  of  Sterling,  or  Long  Island,  made  ap- 
plication to  Henry,  Earl  of  Sterling,  to  purchase 
his  right  and  title,  and  in  1663,  the  Earl  of  Sterling 
agreed  to  sell  the  said  Island  for  £']<yx),  but  the 
same  not  being  paid,  he  did  not  convey  his  title  to 
the  Duke  of  York."  Frequent  application  for  pay- 
ment was  of  no  avail;  a  compromise  was  made  for  a 
pension  of  ;^300,  also  never  paid,  hence  William, 
Earl  of  Sterling,  the  present  petitioner,  prayed  that 
the  ;£'70oo  and  arrears  of  interest  be  paid,  or,  failing 
payment,  that  "  the  unoccupied  lands  on  the  Island 
of  Sterling  be  restored  to  him." 

In  1637  Lord  Sterling  gave  a  power  of  attorney  to 
James  Farret '  to  sell  any  part  of  his  land  on  the 
Island,  and  through  Farret's  negotiations  with  Lieu- 
tenant Howe,  the  English  claims  overlapped  the 
Dutch  possessions. 

Then  a  sloop  was  bought,  and  a  party  of  eight 
men  under  Lieutenant  Daniel  Howe  started  to  ex- 
plore the  "  Island  of  Paumanacke  "  of  which  they 
fancied  themselves  the  owners.  These  "  Linne 
Men  "  set  out  in  the  last  days  of  April.     Rounding 

'  In  Silas  Wood's  Sketch  of  Long  Island,  and  elsewhere,  Farret's 
name  is  given  as  Andrew  Forrester. 


THE    LAND-FALL   AT  MANHASSET.  121 

Cape  Cod,  and  passing  the  alluring  entrance  to  Nar- 
ragansett  Bay,  they  came  into  the  Sound  by  the  un- 
familiar Race,  and  coasted  the  northern  shore  of 
Matouwacks.  The  low  beach,  and  the  sheer  cliffs  of 
its  eastern  borders  did  not  attract  them.  They 
passed  on,  by  one  and  another  fair  haven,  wooded 
to  its  reedy  margin,  until,  early  in  May,  they  entered 
Cow  Bay,'  between  sloping  hills  misty  in  the  faint 
green  haze  of  budding  foliage.  The  dogwood  was 
in  bloom,  and  the  wild  apple  opening  its  pink  buds. 
Landing  near  the  head  of  the  bay,  probably  on  the 
west  side  of  Cow  Neck,  near  the  Indian  village  of 
Manhasset,  they  found  open  meadows,  blue  with 
violets  and  starred  with  early  cinquefoil,  and  rich 
fields  along  the  stream  which  there  entered  the 
bay. 

The  Dutch  had  already  asserted  their  ownership 
by  affixing  to  a  tree  the  arms  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange.  Howe  pulled  down  the  insignia,  derisively 
replacing  the  rampant  lion  of  Nassau  by  "  an  un- 
handsome face."  A  rude  cabin  was  hastily  put  up, 
and  another  well  under  way,  when  interruption  came. 
The  friendly  sachem,  Pennawitz,  had  told  Kieft  of 
the  new-comers  at  'T  Schout's  Bale,  and  the  Secre- 
tary van  Tienhoven  was  sent  at  once.  May  13th,  in 

'  Then  called 'T  Schout's  Bale,  later,  Howe's  Bay,  described  by  van 
Tienhoven  as  "  very  open  and  navigable,  with  one  river  running  into 
it.  On  said  river  are  also  fine  maize  lands,  level  and  not  stony,  with 
right  beautiful  valleys.  Beyond  said  river  is  a  very  convenient  hook 
of  land,  somewhat  large,  encircled  by  a  large  river  and  valley,  where 
all  description  of  cattle  can  be  reared  and  fed,  such  convenience  be- 
ing a  great  accommodation  for  the  settlers  who  must  otherwise  search 
for  their  cattle  several  days  in  the  bush.'" 


122  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

the  yacht  Prinz  Willem,  to  arrest  the  "  Foreign 
strollers."  The  entire  party  consisted  of  eight  men, 
one  woman,  and  her  infant.  Howe  made  his  escape. 
Edwin  Howell,  Job  Sayre,  and  four  others  were 
taken  to  Fort  ArnsterHam  and  imprisoned  for  three 
days.  When  examined  before  the  Council,  they 
made  the  defence  that  their  settlement  was  author- 
ised by  Farret,  in  whose  right  they  had  believed. 
Their  innocent  intention  was  obvious,  and  they  were 
released  on  their  promise  to  leave  the  region  on 
which  they  had  trespassed  and  to  go  beyond  the 
limit  of  Dutch  occupation. 

This  they  did,  sailing  down  the  Sound  through 
Plum  Gut  and  Gardiner's  Bay  into  Peconic  Bay,  and 
landed,  June  12,  1640,  where  the  hamlet  of  North 
Sea  later  grew  up.  Thus  leading  immediately  to 
the  planting  of  Southhampton,  the  adventure  of  the 
Linne  men  was  not  without  result. 

In  the  Clarendon  Papers,  Edward  Hyde  thus  re- 
lates the  affair :  "  In  the  yeare  1641,  Captain  Daniell 
How  and  other  Englishmen  purchased  a  considera- 
ble tract  of  land  of  the  Indian  proprietours  on  the 
western  part  of  Long  Isl^  Beginning  to  settle 
themselves,  the  affores"*  Govern'  Kieft  sent  a  com- 
pany of  Souldiers  and  seized  the  psons  of  the  s"^  Eng- 
lish, putting  them  in  Irons,  prisoners  to  Holland, 
vnlesse  they  would  promise  him  to  desarte  the 
s''  plaice,  thereby  forcing  them  to  quit  their  right 
and  interest  they  had  thereunto." 

Lechford,  in  his  Plain  Dealing,  or  Nevves  from 
New-England,  tells  the  story  as  follows :  "  Long 
Island  has  begun  to  be  planted,  and  some  two  min- 


FARRET'S  PERSISTENCE.  123 

Isters  have  gone  there,  or  are  to  goe,  as  our  Master 
Pierson  and  Master  Knowles.  A  Church  was  gath- 
ered for  that  Island  at  Lynne  in  the  Bay,  whence 
some  by  reason  of  straitnesse  did  remove  to  the 
saide  Island.  The  Patent  is  granted  to  Lord  Star- 
ling, but  the  Dutch  claime  part  of  the  Island,  or  the 
whole,  for  their  plantation  is  right  over  against  and 
not  far  from  the  South  end  of  the  same  Isle.  And 
on  Lieut.  Howe  pulling  down  the  Dutch  arms  on  the 
Isle,  there  was  like  to  be  great  stir  whatever  may 
come  of  it." 

Farret  did  not  relinquish  his  claim  to  the  Island, 
and  attempted  negotiations  with  the  Dutch.  The 
"  Remonstrance  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt  "  addressed  to 
the  States-General,  in  1649,  says:  "  We  shall  treat 
of  Long  Island  more  at  length  because  the  English 
greatly  hanker  after  it.  In  1640,  a  Scotchman  came 
to  Director  Kieft  with  an  English  Commission,  but 
his  pretensions  were  not  much  respected.  He  there- 
fore departed  without  having  accomplished  anything 
except  imposing  on  the  lower  classes." 

The  time  passed  and  no  colonisation  was  to  be 
effected  under  the  protection  of  Lord  Sterling's  sup- 
posed ownership  of  the  Island.  The  English  settle- 
ment of  Queens  County  was  to  receive  a  different 
impetus,  a  movement  already  preparing  on  the 
opposite  shore  of  the  Sound. 


VIII. 

THE  STAMFORD  MIGRATION. 

AMONG  the  many  more  or  less  false  accounts 
of  the  Lynn  adventure,  even  Trumbull  mis- 
takes the  course  of  events  which  led  to  the 
planting  of  Queens  County.  He  confuses  this  abor- 
tive attempt  with  the  systematic  settlement  of  the 
Hempstead  township  four  years  later,  in  saying, 
"  Captain  Howe  and  other  Englishmen  in  behalf  of 
Connecticut  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land  of  the 
Indians,  the  original  proprietors  on  Long  Island. 
This  tract  extended  from  the  east  part  of  Oyster  Bay 
to  the  western  part  of  Home's  or  Holme's  Bay  to 
the  middle  of  the  Great  Plain.  Settlement  was  im- 
mediately begun  on  the  land  and  by  1642  had  made 
considerable  advancement."  ' 

But  the  while,  events  had  been  long  in  train  which 
were  to  lead  to  the  real  occupation  of  the  land.  In 
1630,  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  an  honourable  knight, 
comrade  of  John  Winthrop,  brought  with  him  to 

'  History  of  Connecticut,  vol.  i.,  p.  119.  Home's  or  Holme's  Bay 
is  a  name  found  only  in  the  above  extract.  It  is  probably  a  mere 
clerical  error  for  Howe's  Bay. 

124 


S/X  RICHARD   SALTONSTALVS  COMPANY.     \2% 

Massachusetts  Bay  a  worthy  company  who  planted 
Watertown.  The  westward  course  of  empire  waited 
not  for  Bishop  Berkeley's  prophetic  verse.  Attracted 
to  the  richer  lands  of  the  Connecticut  River,  ("  Heer- 
ing  of  the  fame  of  the  Conighticute  river,  they  had 
a  hankering  mind  after  it "),  impelled  by  some  of 
the  theological  disputes  which  were  the  true  animus 
of  nearly  every  New  England  movement,  part  of  the 
little  band,  "  the  civil  and  religious  founders  of  Con- 
necticut," journeyed  through  the  forests  and  founded 
Wethersfield,  at  first  called  Watertown. 

This  was  in  the  summer  of  1635.  It  was  May  29, 
1635,  that  they  were  dismissed  from  the  church  of 
Watertown,  Massachusetts,  "  to  form  a  nevve 
Church  couennte  in  this  River  of  Connecticot."  But 
it  was  not  long  before  the  new  church,  also,  "  fell  into 
unhappie  contentions  and  animosities."  By  the  ad- 
vice of  Mr.  Davenport,  the  malcontents  were  induced 
to  move  southward  to  the  Sound,  obtaining  from 
New  Haven '  the  right  to  all  the  lands  the  Colony 
had  bought  of  the  Indians  at  Rippowam,  afterward 
Stamford.  In  the  spring  of  1641,  some  of  the  men 
came  to  begin  a  clearing  and  first  break  ground.  By 
fall,  over  thirty  families  were  there,  and  warmly 
housed  for  the  winter  in  their  well-banked  log 
cabins. 

The  earliest  Records  of  Stamford  are  faded, 
crumbling,  and  timeworn.  As  far  as  can  be  de- 
ciphered, the  first  entry  in  the  Town  Book  is  as 
follows : 

'  The  General  Court  of  New  Haven  gave  a  title-deed  to  Robert 
Coe  and  Andrew  Ward  of  Wethersfield,  November  14,  1640. 


126  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  These  men  whose  names  are  underwritten  have 
bound  themselves  under  paine  of  forfeiture  of  5  lb. 
a  man  to  goe  or  send  to  Rippowam  to  begin  and 
prosecute  the  design  of  a  plantation  there,  by  the 
i6th  of  May  next,  the  rest  of  the  families  there  by 
ye  last  of  November,  viz. : 

Ri.  Denton  Jer.  Wood 

Ma.  Mitchell  Sam  Clark 

Thurs.  Raynor  Sam  Sherman 

Robert  Coe  Jon.  Wood 

And.  Ward  Thos.  Wickes 

Hen.  Smith  Jer.  Jagger 

Vincent  Simpkins  J.  Jessopp 

Ri.  Gildersleeve  Jo.  Seaman 

Edm.  Wood  Dan  Fitch 

Jo        Wood  Jo        Northend" 

The  band  from  Wethersfield  were  led  by  their 
pastor  the  Reverend  Richard  Denton,  a  most  note- 
worthy man.'     Little  is  known  of  his  relation  to  the 

'  Richard  Denton,  born  in  Yorkshire,  1586,  was  graduated  in  Cam- 
bridge in  1623,  He  was  the  minister  of  Colby  Chapel,  Halifax,  and 
with  many  of  his  congregation  came  to  America  with  Winthrop.  He 
settled  in  Watertown  in  1630,  whence  he  came  to  Wethersfield,  to 
Stamford,  and  finally  to  Hempstead,  on  which  infant  town  he  left  a 
deep  impress.  There  he  remained  until  1659,  returning  to  England 
but  three  years  before  his  death.  He  was  claimed  by  the  Presby- 
terians, but  his  liberal  tendencies  were  all  toward  Independency. 
His  epitaph  shows  the  contemporary  measure  of  the  man. 

"  Hie  jacet  et  fruitur  Tranquilla  sede  RiCHARDUS  Dentonus  cujus 

Fama  perennis  erit. 
In  cola  jam  coeli  velut  Astra  micantia  fulget 
Que  multes  Fidei  Lumina  Clara  dedit.'' 

But  the  most  curious  mention  of  him  is  by  Cotton  Mather  :  "The 
apostle  describing  the  false  ministers  of  those  primitive  times  calls 


RICHARD  DENTOJV.  12/ 

disturbance  in  Wethersfield,  but  it  speaks  for  the 
weight  of  his  personality,  that  he  carried  with  him 
the  greater  part  of  the  little  community. 

They  came  to  Stamford  to  repeat  the  story  of 
Wethersfield.  But  this  time,  at  least,  the  discord 
arose  from  no  theological  hair-splitting.  It  was  a 
manly  protest  against  the  attempted  theocracy  of 
New  Haven,  which  limited  suffrage  to  the  members 
of  the  Church.  In  1643,  Mr.  Denton  and  a  few  ad- 
herents resolved  once  more  to  adventure  for  a  new 
home  and  a  more  liberal  polity.  Land  was  bought 
of  the  Indians  on  the  North  Side  of  Long  Island  by 
Robert  Fordham  and  John  Carman.  They  were 
drawn  hither  by  Captain  Underbill's  glowing  report 
of  the  country  through  which  he  had  pursued  the 
Canarsies.     The  next  spring    a  few  families  from 

them  '  clouds  without  water,  carried  about  of  winds.'  As  for  the 
true  men  of  our  primitive  times,  they  were  indeed  '  carried  about  of 
winds '  though  not  winds  of  strange  doctrine,  yet  the  winds  of  hard 
suffering  did  carry  him  as  far  as  from  England  into  America  :  the 
hurricanos  of  persecution  wherein  doubtless  the  '  Prince  of  the 
powers  of  Air '  had  its  influence,  drove  the  heavenly  clouds  from  one 
part  of  the  heavenly  church  into  another.  But  they  were  not  clouds 
without  waters,  when  they  came  with  showers  of  blessings  and  rained 
very  gracious  impressions  upon  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  Among 
these  clouds  ■w&s  our  pious  and  learned  Afr.  Richard  Denton  of  York- 
shire, who  having  watered  Halifax  in  England  with  his  fruitful  min- 
istry, was  by  a  tempest  then  tossed  into  New  England  where  first  at 
Weathersfield  and  then  at  Stamford,  '  his  doctrine  dropped  as  the 
rain,  his  speech  distilled  as  the  dew. ' 

"  Tho' he  was  a.  little  man  he  had  a  great  soul:  his  well-accom- 
plished mind  in  his  lesser  body  was  as  an  Iliad  in  a  nutshell.  I  think 
he  was  blind  of  one  eye  ;  not  the  less  he  was  not  least  among  the 
seers  of  Israel.  He  saw  a  very  considerable  portion  of  those  things 
which  'eye' hath  not  seen.'  " — Magnalia  Christi,  vol.  i.,  p.  398. 


128  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Rippowam  crossed  the  Sound  to  the  "  East  side 
of  Martin  Gerretsen's,'  or  Cow  Bay,  and  thence 
penetrated  to  the  inland  plantations  the  Dutch  had 
already  named  Heemstede." 

No  point  has  been  more  difficult  to  determine 
than  the  exact  location  of  this  Bay.  There  are  de- 
scriptions which  apply  only  to  Hempstead  Harbour. 
It  certainly  was  not  Cow  Bay,  which  was  'T  Schout's 
Bale,  or  Howe's  Bay  of  the  Lynn  episode.  The 
maps,  the  surveys,  the  legal  records,  and  the  descrip- 
tions of  the  time  are  very  vague.  From  a  mass  of 
contradictory  statements,  the  most  certain  deduction 
is  in  favour  of  Little  Neck  Bay;  but  it  is  probable 
that  the  name  was  loosely  given  by  different  writers 
to  any  one  of  the  beautiful  bays  which  indent  the 
northern  shore  of  Queens. 

An  Indian  deed  describes  its  grant  as  extending 
from  "  Sint-Sink  or  Schout's  Bay  to  Martin  Gerret- 
sen's Bay,"  but  does  not  give  the  direction.  A 
Dutch  manuscript  speaks  of  "  Martinne-concq,  alias 
Hog's  Neck,  or  Hog's  Island  "  (the  headland  east  of 
Hempstead  Harbour),  as  being  at  Martin  Gerret- 
sen's Bay.  Secretary  van  Tienhoven  in  his  Infor- 
mation Relative   to  Lands    in    Nieuw    Nederlandt, 

^  Martin  Gerretsen  van  Bergen  was  one  of  the  Council  of  Nieuw 
Amsterdam,  1633-36. 

'  "  Named  after  the  neatest  and  most  important  vill^e  on  the 
Island  of  Schouwen  in  Zealand,"  says  Mr.  Brodhead.  Schouwen,  or 
Landt  van  Zierch  See,  is  the  most  northern  island  in  this  archipelagic 
province.  Fifteen  miles  in  length  by  five  in  width,  it  is  protected 
on  every  side  by  dykes.  That  there  are  in  Holland  several  villages 
of  this  endearing  name,  expresses  well  the  domestic  character  of  the 
Dutch  people. 


MARTIN  GERRETSEN'S  BAY.  1 29 

1650,  after  writing  of  Oyster  Bay,  says :  "  Martin 
Gerretsen's  Bay,  or  Martinnehoeck,'  is  much  deeper 
and  wider  than  Oyster  Bay  and  runs  westward  and 
divides  in  three  rivers,  two  of  which  are  jiavigable." 
By  these  might  well  be  meant  Glen  Cove  Creek, 
Roslyn  Creek,  and  a  third  inlet  near  Glenwood. 
"  The  land,"  he  continues,  "  is  mostly  level  and  of 
good  quality  for  grass  and  for  raising  all  kinds  of 
cattle.  On  the  rivers  are  numerous  valleys  of  sweet 
and  salt  meadows."  Van  Tienhoven  led  the  expe- 
dition sent  to  expel  the  Linne  men  from  Cow  Bay, 
but  this  description  is  distinctly  of  Hempstead  Har- 
bour and  its  environment.  In  1659,  Stuyvesant 
granted  Govert  Lockermann  and  others,  "  a  parcel 
of  land  situate  in  Martin  Gerretsen's  Bay,  called  in  the 
Indian  tongue,  Martinecough,  or  Hog's  Neck,  or 
Hog's  Island,  it  being  in  times  of  High  Water  an 
Island."  This  spot,  now  called  Centre  Island,  they 
sold  to  the  town  of  Oyster  Bay  in  1665,  still  calling 
the  land  at  Martin  Gerretsen's  Bay,  although  it  lay 
on  Oyster  Bay  Harbour,  butjhalf  a  mile  from  the 
village  of  Oyster  Bay.  This  palpable  error  shows 
the  fallibility  of  even  legal  documents. 

In  correction  of  the  above,  we  find  in  the  Town 
Records  of  Hempstead,  Book  B,  p.  33,  mention  of 
the  "  Land  lying  eastward  at  Martinecock,  westward 
at  Matthew  Garrison's  Bay,"  while  on  page  162, 
"  Privileges  upon  Matthew  Garrison's  Neck  and  at 
Matinacock "  are  named.  Kieft's  Patent  to  the 
Stamford    Immigrants    of    1644    gives  land    from 

'  Hence,  Martinnecock  was,  possibly,  not  an  Indian  name.   Dutch 
and  Indian  etymologies  are  often  confused  and  intermingled. 


I30  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Hempstead  Harbour,  westward  to  Martin  Gerret- 
sen's  Bay.  His  Patent  to  the  town  of  Flushing,  in 
1645,  "  extends  eastward  as  far  as  Martin  Gerretsen's 
Bay,  from  the  head  whereof,"  etc.  The  present 
eastern  boundary  of  Flushing  runs  from  the  head  of 
Little  Neck  Bay.  The  description  of  Martin  Ger- 
retsen's Bay  in  the  Indian  grant  of  Hempstead,  1658, 
and  in  Dongan's  Patent,  both  answer  to  Little  Neck 
Bay.  More  specifically,  in  entries  in  the  Town  Book, 
B,  p.  35,  is  mentioned  "  the  Little  Neck  lying  on  the 
East  side  of  Matthew  Gerritsen's  Bay,  which  neck  is 
commonly  called  Madnan's  Neck," — now  Great 
Neck.  Still  another  entry  in  Book  B,  is  final,  forc- 
ing the  conclusion  that  Little  Neck  Bay,  on  the  west 
of  Great  Neck,  is  the  one  to  which  this  much  dis- 
puted name  belonged.  In  1665,  it  records  that 
Jonah  Fordham  of  Hempstead  sells  to  John  Scott 
"  the  land  bought  of  Robert  Jackson  on  Madnan's 
Neck  one  hundred  acres  which  lieth  between  how's 
Harbour  and  the  bay  which  is  called  Mathagarrat- 
son's  Bay."  This  evidence  is  sustained  by  the  rude 
coast  line  in  "  A  Piatt  off  ye  situation  off  ye  towns  and 
places  on  ye  west  end  off  Long  Island  to  Hemp- 
stead, laid  down  by  Cox  Hubbard,  July  3,  1666. " ' 
Herein,  Martin  Gerretsen's  Bay  is  the  indentation 
next  east  of  Flushing  Bay,  and  corresponding  to 
Little  Neck  Bay. 

November  14,  1644,  on  the  condition  that  one  hun- 
dred families  should  be  settled  within  five  years,  Kieft, 
who  by  order  of  the  States-General  had  bought  of 
Pennawitz  all  lands  on  Long  Island  within  the  limits 
'See  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  96. 


MARTIN  GERRETSEN'S  BAY.  131 

of  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  granted  a  liberal  Patent  to  the 
Stamford  colonists.'  From  the  chief  Patentee,  the 
grassy  moors  were  at  first  called  "  Mr.  Fordham's 
Plains."  The  Patent  was  for  "  the  Great  Plains  on 
Long  Island  from  the  East  River  to  the  South  Sea, 
and  from  a  certain  Harbour  commonly  called  and 
known  as  Hempstead  Harbour  and  westward  as  far 
as  Martin  Gerretsen's  Bay."  The  Patentees  were 
authorised  to  "  use  and  exercise  the  Reformed  Reli- 
gion which  they  profess,"  and  to  nominate  their 
own  magistrates,  subject  to  approval  by  the  Director- 
General  and  the  Council  at  Nieuw  Amsterdam. 
A  quit-rent  of  one-tenth"  the  products  of  the  soil 
was  to  be  paid  to  the  West  India  Company,  begin- 
ning ten  years  from  the  first  general  peace  with  the 
Indians. 

The  domain  was  held  in  common  for  three  years, 
until  in  1647,  a  "  Division  of  Land  "  was  made  among 
the  sixty-six   original   owners.'     For  more  than  a 

'  The  Patent  was  made  out  to 

Robert  Fordham  John  Carman 

John  Stricklan  John  Ogden 

John  Lamoree  Jonas  Wood. 

*From  the  Town  Book  of  Hempstead,  July  10,  1658  :  "  Ordered 
and  Agreed  at  Generall  Town  Meeting  that  Richard  Gildersleeve  is 
to  goe  to  Manhatan  to  agree  with  the  Government  concerning  the 
tythes  &  it  is  ordered  they  are  not  to  exceede  100  schepels  of  wheate. 
.  .  .  The  Chardges  of  his  journey  is  to  be  defrayde  by  the 
Towne." 

^  The  names  are  as  follows  : 
Robert  Ashman,  Sam  Clark, 

Thos.  Armitage,  Benj.  Coe, 

Sam'l  Baccus,  (?)  John  Coe, 

John  Carman,  Robert  Coe, 


132 


EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 


century,  other  divisions  of  the  still  ungranted  por- 
tions of  the  Common  continued  to  be  made.  The 
Town  Books  at  frequent  intervals  record  the  "  No. 
of  Akers  of  medowe  given  out  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Hempstead,"  while  the  marshes  were  long  owned  in 
common.  Town  Meetings  fixed  the  day  to  begin 
cutting  the  salt  grass,  before  which  no  one  had  the 
right  to  use  sickle  or  scythe.     On  Long  Island  was 


Dan'l  Denton, 
Nath'l  Denton, 
Rev'd  Richard  Denton, 
Richard  Denton,  Jr., 
Samuel  Denton, 
John  Ellison, 
John  Foulks, 
Rev'd  Robert  Fordham, 
John  Fordham, 
Xtopher  Foster, 
Thos.  Foster, 
Ri.  Gildersleeve, 
John  Hicks, 
John  Hudd,  (?) 
Henry  Hudson, 
Thos.  Ireland, 
Robert  Jackson, 
John  Lawrence, 
William  Lawrence, 
John  Lewis, 
Richard  Lewis, 
Roger  Lines, 
John  Ogden, 
Henry  Pierson, 
Thos.  Pope, 
Ed.  Raynor, 
Wm  Raynor, 
Wm  Rogers, 


Joseph  Scott, 
Wm  Scott, 
Simon  Sering, 
John  Sewell, 
Wm  Shadden, 
Thomas  Sherman, 
Abraham  Smith, 
James  Smith, 
John  Smith,  Sen., 
John  Smith,  Jun.,  Rock. 
William  Smith, 
Thos.  Stephenson, 
John  Storye, 
John  Strickland, 
Samuel  Strickland, 
Nicholas  Tanner, 
Mr.  Toppin,  John, 
William  Thickstone, 
Ri.  Valentine, 
Wm  Washburne, 
Daniel  Whitehead, 
Henry  Whitson, 
Thos.  Willet, 
Robt.  Williams, 
Edmund  Wood,  Oakham, 
Jeremy  Wood, 
Jonas  Wood, 

Wood,  (?) 

Francis  Yates. 


THE  TEUTONIC  MARK.  1 33 

best  preserved  the  land  system  of  our  early  Ger- 
manic ancestors.  There,  as  in  the  old  Teutonic 
forests,  was  a  distinct  if  unnamed  classification  of 
lands  into  the  village  mark,  of  the  clustered  house- 
lots,  the  arable  mark,  or  "  Planters'  Lots,"  fields 
assigned  for  cultivation,  and  the  Common  mark, 
where  the  rights  of  pasturage  and  of  cutting  hay 
and  wood  were  in  common. 

This  system  was  best  exemplified  and  longest 
maintained  on  the  plains  of  Hempstead.'  In  1712, 
the  Commons,  reduced  by  the  encroachments  of 
cultivation,  were  surveyed  by  Thomas  Clowes,  and 
then  contained  but  6213  acres.  At  the  General 
Town  Meeting,  October  14,  1723,  seven  men  "are 
chosen  by  major  vote  to  divide  the  individual  Land 
of  Hempstead,  and  to  lay  to  every  man  according 
to  his  just  right  and  to  doe  the  work  according 
to  Justice."  Diligence  in  its  execution  was  not 
enjoined.  Nearly  twenty  years  later,  when  called 
upon  to  report  their  work,  at  a  Town  Meeting 
where  the  four  survivors  of  the  Committee  were 
present,  they  ask  for  more  time.  "  But  it  appears  to 
our  way  of  thinking,"  the  Town  goes  on  to  say,  that 
"  They  have  proposed  contrary  to  Reason  and  the 
scheme  that  was  projected  by  the  Town  by  taking 
and  selling  the  town-land  where  and  for  what  they 

'  These  rights  of  Common  were  long  preserved  and  bequeathed,  or 
sold  as  private  property.  As  late  as  1792,  Harry  Peters,  son  of  Valen- 
tine Hewlett  Peters,  offers  for  sale,  his  farm  near  Hempstead  Village, 
"  a  pleasant,  salubrious  and  public  situation,  worthy  the  attention  of 
the  farmer,  the  trader,  or  the  private  gentleman,  with  the  great 
privilege  of  Commonage  in  the  plains  and  marshes,  enabling  the 
proprietor  to  keep  what  stock  he  pleases." 


134  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Pleased,  and  Laying  out  to  Some  men  where  they 
Chose,  and  others  could  not  get  their  rights  unless 
they  took  their  land  in  Leavings  and  poor  land. 
And  as  the  four  men  continue  Laying  out  land  and 
bringing  the  Town  into  more  confusion  which  wee 
whose  names  are  after  written,  doe  protest  against," 
— etc. 

Hempstead  suffered  less  than  almost  any  other 
town  from  Indian  attacks,  and  yet  was  not  altogether 
free  from  their  assaults.  Pennawitz  had  been  deemed 
the  firm  friend  of  both  the  Dutch  and  the  English, 
but  scarcely  were  the  Stamford  Pilgrims  established, 
when  his  tribe  was  suspected  of  a  plot  against  them. 
Mr.  Fordham  hastily  imprisoned  seven  Indians  on  a 
false  and  trivial  charge.  An  expedition  under  John 
Underbill  at  once  sailed  for  'T  Schout's  Bay,  and 
marched  across  country  to  Heemstede.  Underbill 
put  to  death  three  of  the  prisoners  and  took  the 
others  to  Fort  Amsterdam  where  they  were  tortured 
with  great  barbarity.  La  Montagne  had  at  the  same 
time  been  ordered  against  the  Canarsies  with  a  force 
of  one  hundred  men ;  their  chief  village  was 
destroyed  and  six-score  Indians  killed.  Underbill 
meanwhile  was  sent  to  Connecticut  and  the  annihil- 
ating battle  of  Strickland's  Plain  followed.  The 
Indians  on  either  side  of  the  Sound  sued  for  peace, 
thankfully  accepting  the  hard  conditions  imposed. 

In  1651,  the  Reverend  John  Moore  wrote  to  the 
Directors  at  Amsterdam,  in  behalf  of  the  magistrates 
of  Heemstede,  a  protest  against  Stuyvesant's  alleged 
arming  of  the  Indians.  The  letter  is  a  piece  of 
vivid  description  relating  the  "  various  insolences  " 


GRIEVANCES  IN  HEEMSTEDE.  1 35 

of  which  the  Indians  have  been  guilty.  "  They 
have  driven  out  of  the  pasture  our  remaining  and 
surviving  cattle.  It  is  a  matter  of  small  moment  in 
their  eyes  to  kill  a  good  ox  merely  for  the  horns  to 
carry  powder  in ;  sometimes  they  kill  a  man,  some- 
times a  woman ;  they  plunder  our  houses,  purloin 
our  guns,  pry  into  our  affairs,  endeavour  to  drown 
the  people,  strip  children  in  the  fields,  and  " — most 
lame  and  impotent  conclusion,  a  ludicrous  anti- 
climax— "  they  prowl  abroad  with  masks  or  visors." 

The  Hempstead  Plains  are  full  of  natural  depres- 
sions of  unusually  rich  soil.'  In  one  of  these 
"  Hollows,"  the  settlers  planned  their  village  and 
laid  out  their  garden  plots.  The  grassy  Plains  were 
very  alluring  to  those  pastoral  Englishmen,  in  whom 
the  earth-hunger  was  strong.  Many  of  them  were 
from  Yorkshire,  a  grazing  country,  and  in  a  few 
years,  herds  of  cattle  were  scattered  over  the  Plains, 
or  sent  for  pasturage  to  the  many  Necks  along  the 
Sound.  Much  of  the  early  legislation  of  the  Town 
refers  to  rights  of  Common,  to  the  gates  or  the 
keeping  up  of  fences,  while  the  Cow-herd  whose  duties 
were  the  survival  of  an  old  Friesland  custom,  the 
Calf-keeper,  and  the  Pinder  (Pound-master)  were 
among  the  most  important  officials. 

The  Gate-Rights  on  Cow  Neck  permitted  every 
man  to  pasture  cattle  proportionately  to  the  number 
of  "  standing  gates,"  or  panels  of  fence  which  he 
built  and  kept  in  order.  In  165 1,  five  hundred  and 
twenty-one  gates  were  owned  by  sixty-one  men.     A 

'  "  Hollows,"  which  bore  various  distinctive  names,  as  Cherry-tree 
Hollow,  Walnut  Hollow,  Ground-nut  Hollow, 


136  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

few  years  later,  a  fine  of  one  guilder  was  imposed 
for  every  defective  length,  and  penalties  prescribed 
for  carelessly  letting  down  fences  :  "  If  any  one 
shall  open  ye  towne-gates,  and  shall  neglect  to  put  up 
ye  barres  and  shut  ye  sd  gates,  ...  for  such 
defect,  five  shillings,  the  halfe  to  be  given  to  ye  In- 
former." Again  :  "  It  is  ordered  by  the  Townsmen 
of  Hempstead  for  this  present  yeare,  1659,  that  all 
the  fences  of  ye  frontiere  lotts  that  runne  into  ye 
fields,  shall  be  substantially  and  sufficiently  fenced 
by  the  25th  of  this  present  month  of  Appril,  and  if 
any  p'son,  or  p'sons  shall  be  found  negligent  in  soe 
doeing,  that  they  shall  forfeit  for  his  offence  5  shil- 
lings for  the  vse  of  ye  towne." 

The  engagement  of  the  Cow-herd  was  a  matter  of 
solemn  contract,  as,  see  the 

"  Act  of  Agreement  vn&de  z.xid  concluded  between 
the  Townesmen  of  Hempstead  for  this  present  year, 
anno  1658,  of  the  one  party,  and  William  Jacocks 
and  Edward  Reynor  of  the  other  party : 

"Imprimis,  William  Jacocks  and  Edward  Reynor 
do  hereby  agree  to  take  ye  chardges  of  seeing  all  ye 
cowes  belonging  to  ye  East  heard  of  ye  towne  of 
Hempstead,  beginning  ye  nth  day  of  May,  next 
insuing  ye  date  hereof,  and  to  continew  vntill  ye 
saide  Towne  finde  itt  convenient  to  release  and  dis- 
chardge  them,  which  shall  bee  about  ye  time  that  ye 
Indian  harvest  shall  be  wholly  taken  in  howses. 

"  Item,  ye  people  shall  be  ready  at  ye  sounding  of 
ye  home  to  Send  out  their  Cowes  and  ye  Cowe 
Keeper  shall  be  ready  by  ye  time  ye  Son  is  halfe 


CONTRACT  WITH  THE  COW  KEEPER.        1 37 

an  hower  above  ye  horrison  to  drive  them  oute. 
And     .     .     .     before  sonn-setting  to  bring  them  in. 

'^  Item,  ye  one  of  ye  both  sureties  above  specified, 
shall  be  always  ready  to  attende  theire  chardge  and 
shall  be  carefuU  to  water  ye  cowes  at  seasonable 
times  of  ye  day,  and  shall  drive  them  one  day  of  the 
week  unto  Kow  Neck,  and  shall  lett  them  have  the 
range  and  feeding  to  ye  North  East  end  of  ye  ox 
pasture.  .  .  .  The  Cow-Keeper's  wages  shall  be 
in  future  i  pound  of  butter  for  each  cow  in  the 
hearde,  at  6  pieces  the  pound,  and  the  remain- 
der shall  be  in  sufficient  wampum,  or  otherwise  in 
coin. 

"  The  Cow  Keeper's  last  day  df  keeping  the  Kowes 
shall  bee  on  Wednesday  ye  23rd  Oct.  Stilo  novo, 
being  humiliacon  Day.  Also,  a  calve-keeper  to  make 
it  his  whole  employment  to  keep  ye  calves  to  ye 
No.  of  80  and  to  watter  ye  Calves  twice  in  a  day." 
Book  A,  p.  34. 

The  cattle  thus  pasturing  in  Common  were  dis- 
tinguished by  their  owner's  earmark,  carefully  regis- 
tered in  the  Town  Book. 

"  John  fonostrond,  his  Earmark  is  a  swallow-fork 
on  the  near  ear  and  a  half-penny  mark  under  the 
same,  and  a  hole  in  the  same. 

"  Samuel  Hewlett  his  Earmark  is  a  slipe  under  the 
near  ear,  a  flower-de-luce  on  the  foreside  of  the  ear 
and  a  half-penny  under  it.  "  Entered  by  me 

"  Thos.  Gildersleeve, 

"Town  Clerk. 

"  Dec,  ye  14th,  1729.'' 


138  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Dairy  products  were  long  a  staple  of  Hempstead. 
On  his  campaign  of  1755,  Sir  William  Johnson  sends 
from  Whitehall  to  the  representatives  of  Queens 
County  in  the  Provincial  Assembly,  his  thanks  for 
sixty-nine  cheeses,  "  highly  acceptable  and  reviving," 
and  for  two  hundred  sheep  sent  as  a  gift  to  the 
army.  He  writes:  "This  generous  humanity  of 
Queens  County  is  unanimously  and  loudly  applauded 
by  all  here,  .  .  .  and  may  those  amiable  house- 
wives to  whose  skill  we  owe  the  refreshing  cheeses, 
long  continue  to  shine  in  their  useful  and  endearing 
station." ' 

Sheep-raising  was  followed  from  the  earliest  set- 
tlement of  the  town,  the  sheep  branded  and  pas- 
tured in  common  upon  the  Great  Plains.  This 
common  pasturage  was  carefully  guarded,  as  shown 
by  the  Act  of  June  17,  1726 :  "  To  prevent  the  set- 
ting on  fire,  or  burning  the  old  grass  on  Hempstead 
Plains,  done  by  certain  persons  for  the  gratification 
of  their  own  wanton  tempers  and  humours."  Old 
men  still  talk  of  the  yearly  "  sheep-parting,"  which 
took  place  every  fall  in  the  centre  of  the  Great 
Plains,  when  swift  horsemen  collected  and  drove  up 
the  scattered  flocks,  and  their  increase  to  be  claimed 
by  their    respective   owners.     Wool    of    excellent 

'  All  Long  Island  shared  this  interest  in  the  French  and  Indian 
wars,  and  gifts  to  the  army  were  many.  The  New  York  Gazette  of 
September,  1755,  says  :  "  The  people  of  Suffolk  Co.  sent  50  head  of 
fat  cattle  to  Gen.  Johnson  in  Camp  at  Lake  George."  It  adds: 
"  The  women  of  the  county,  ever  good  on  such  occasions,  are  knit- 
ting several  large  bags  of  stockings  and  mittens  to  be  sent  to  the 
poorer  soldiers  in  garrison  at  Fort  William  Henry  and  Fort  Ed- 
ward," 


EXPORTATION  OF  GRAIN.  139 

quality  was  early  in  the  market ;  in  every  homestead, 
the  spinning-wheel,  the  loom,  and  the  dye-pot  pro- 
duced those  enduring  domestic  fabrics  which  have 
not  yet  lost  their  beauty.  Lord  Cornbury  wrote  to 
the  Secretary  Hodges  in  1705:  "I,  myself,  have 
seen  serge  upon  Long  Island,  that  any  man  may 
wear." 

Care  was  also  given  to  the  raising  of  fine  horses,  a 
pursuit  fostered  by  the  successive  English  governors. 
Richard  NicoU,  on  his  first  visit  to  Hempstead, 
established  on  the  Little  Plains — for  a  time  called 
Salisbury  Plains, — near  Hyde  Park,  the  Newmarket 
Race-course,  and  gave  a  silver  plate  as  the  prize  to 
be  run  for,  every  spring. 

But,  that  the  attention  of  the  planters  of  Hemp- 
stead was  not  confined  to  stock-raising,  is  shown, 
when  it  is  observed  that  within  five  years  they  were 
exporting  grain.  Roger  Williams  writes  to  John 
Winthrop,  Junior,  June  13,  1649  :  "  Mr.  Throck- 
morton has  lately  brought  some  corne  from  Hem- 
sted  and  those  parts  but  extraordinarie  deare.  I 
pay  him  6  shillings  for  Indian  and  8  for  wheate." ' 
Two  years  later,  the  Reverend  John  Moore  writes 
to  Amsterdam  asking  for  servants  to  be  sent  over, 
their  passage  to  be  paid  in  the  "  proceeds  of  their 
labours,  corn,  beef,  pork,  tobacco  and  staves." 

From  the  care  with  which  its  records  were  kept 

'  In  1658,  the  Townsmen  fix  the  "  Prices  of  Corne  : 

Wheat at  5  shillings  ye  bushell 

Gates "2       "  8d.  "      " 

Indian  Corn "  3       "         "      "      " 

In  1679,  "  Long  Island  wheate  sells  for  3  shillings  a  skipple.'' 


140  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

in  the  English  Towns,  Long  Island  is  rich  in  the 
materials  for  local  history.  In  Hempstead  there  are 
five  volumes,  covering  the  period  from  1657  to  the 
division  of  the  town  in  1784.  Of  the  first  three 
books'  only  scattered  leaves  remained,  until  they 
were  carefully  collected,  mended,  and  mounted  by 
the  late  Mr.  Henry  Onderdonk,  an  antiquarian, 
whose  fond  devotion  to  his  ancestral  island  should 
be  gratefully  remembered  by  all  her  children.  There 
was  also  a  still  earlier  volume,  entirely  destroyed, 
and  alluded  to  as  "  The  Mouse-Eaten  Book,"  whose 
records  as  prior  to  1657  would  be  now  of  priceless 
worth. 

Book  A,  the  oldest  extant  annals  of  the  Hemp- 
stead founders,  written  by  Daniel  Denton,  Clericus,' 
is  prefaced  by  "  An  Alphabet  to  the  most  Motorial 
things  in  this  Book  relating  to  the  Publick."  Hemp- 
stead, like  the  other  English  Towns,  was  a  pure  de- 
mocracy, and  every  ordinance  begins :  "  It  is  ordered 
by  the  Townesmen."  The  first  entry  in  Book  A  is 
as  follows : 

'  Book  A,  1657-62. 
"      B,  1662-80. 
"     C,  1680-95. 
'■*  Daniel   Denton,   son  of  the  Reverend  Richard  Denton,  was 
author  not  only  of  his  Description  of  New  York,  but  of  A  Small 
Treatise  of  about  3^5  PP-  Svo.  sHled  a  Divine  Soliloquy,  or  the 
Mirror  of 

1.  Created  Purity. 

2.  Contracted  Deformity. 

3.  Restored  Beauty,  and 

4.  Celestial  Glory. 

All  of  which  are  Piously,  Solidly,  Pathetically  and  Practically 
handled  in  good  Language. 


THE  TOWN  BOOKS.  I4I 

"  March  the  17th,  1657  Stylo  novo.  Choosen  by 
the  towne  of  Hempsteed  for  Townesmen  for  the 
above  said  yeare. 

Richard  Brutnal  Francis  Wickes 

Rich.  Valentyne  Robard  Marvine 

Adam  Mott." 
It  goes  on  :  "  Wee  the  Magistrates  of  Hempstead 
doe  hereby  engage  ourselves  to  stand  by  and  bare 
out  with  full  power  the  above  named  Townesmen 
in  all  such  actes  and  orders  as  shall  conduce  for  the 
good  and  benefite  of  this  towne  for  the  preasante 
yeare,  giveing  out  of  land  and  resaiving  in  of  inhab- 
itants onely  excepted.  Given  under  ovvr  handes  this 
i6th  day  of  Apprell,  1657.  S.  N. 

"  Ri.  Gildersleeve 
"  Jno.  Seaman." 

The  Town  Books  contain  a  minute  description  of 
all  lands  "  given  out,"  or  changing  owners.  There 
are  also  many  curious  entries  which  unconsciously 
throw  a  vivid  light  upon  the  new  country  and  its 
simple  life,  and  are  of  the  greatest  sociological  value 
to  one  who  would  reconstruct  a  picture  of  this  prim- 
itive life.  Among  the  "  Publick  debtes  and  chardges 
of  the  Towne  "  in  February,  1668,  Thomas  Landon 
receives  six  pounds  as  a  bounty  for  killing  half  a 
dozen  wolves,'  and  Mrs.  Washburne  is  paid  two  shil- 

'  A  marked  difference  was  made  in  the  bounty  paid  to  a  "  Chris- 
tian," or  to  an  Indian.  A  colonial  statute  of  1683  provides  that : 
"  Whatsoever  Christian  shall  kiU  a  grown  wolf  upon  Long  Island, 
he  shall  be  paid  twenty  shillings,  and  whatsoever  Indian  shall  in  like 
manner  kill  any  wolfe  or  wolves,  they  shall  be  paid  a  match-coate  of 
the  value  of  twelve  shillings  for  each,  and  for  a  whelpe  half  as 
much." 


142  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

lings  "  for  making  a  Holland  shirt  for  ye  Sagamore." 
Here  and  there,  a  ray  is  shed  upon  domestic  life,  or 
family  relations,  which  has  its  personal  interest,  as 
when  a  certain  wife  signs  a  deed  "vollentaryly 
without  threatening  or  fflatery,"  or  a  transfer  of 
land  is  made  "  with  the  consent  and  good  liking  of 
my  loving  wife,  Ruth." 

The  town  legislation  looked  carefully  after  the 
manners  and  morals  of  the  people.  In  the  earliest 
Town  Book  (A.,  p.  58)  occurs  the  following : 

"  These  Orders  made  at  a  Generall  Court  held  at 
Heemstede,  Sept.  ye  16,  1650,  and  consented  to  by 
a  full  Town  Meeting,  held  Oct.  ye  18,  1650. 

"  Forasmuch  as  the  contempt  of  Gods  Word  and 
Sabbath  is  the  desolating  Sinn  of  civiU  States  and 
Plantations,  and  that  the  Publicke  preaching  of  the 
word  by  those  that  are  called  there  vnto  is  the  chief 
and  ordiniare  meanes  ordayned  of  God,  for  the  con- 
verting, edifying  and  saving  of  ye  Soules  of  ye  Ellect 
through  the  presence  and  power  of  ye  Holy  Ghost 
thereunto  promised.  It  is  thereby  ordered  and 
decrede  by  the  Authority  of  the  Generall  Court  that 
all  pesons  inhabiting  this  Towne  or  ye  limitts  thereof, 
shall  duly  resorte  and  repare  to  the  publique  Meet- 
ings and  Assemblies  on  ye  Lordes  dayes,  and  on 
publique  Days  of  fasting  and  thanks  and  humiliacon 
appointed  by  publique  Authority  both  on  the  fore- 
noons and  afternoons. 

"  And  who  has  already,  or  shall  without  just  and 
necessary  causes  approved  by  this  particular  Court 
soe  offend ;  hee,  or  they  shall  forfeit  for  the  first 
offence,  five  guilders,  for  the  second  ten  guilders,  for 


SUMPTUAR  Y  LA  WS.  I43 

the  third  twenty  guilders.  And  if  any  manner  of 
person  shall  remaine  refractorie,  perverse  and  obsti- 
nate hee  shall  be  lyable  for  the  aggravation  of  the 
fine,  or  for  corporal  punishment  or  Banishment.  By 
order  of  ye  Magistrates. 

"  Daniell  Dentonius, 

"  Clericus," 

The  assembling  of  the  people  was  at  "  ye  beating 
of  ye  drum,"  for  which  a  charge  is  regularly  made 
against  the  town,  and  often  paid  in  tobacco. 

The  holding  of  office  was  then  a  privilege  seriously 
regarded,  as  when  the  Clerk  thus  records  his  re-elec- 
tion: "27  Nov.  1658,  John  James  is  chosen  upon 
this  day  for  ye  towne  Clerk  for  ye  Insuing  yeare 
being  his  seconde  yeare  of  service  by  the  Permission 
of  God  Almighty." 

Here  is  the  license  for  an  Inn,  entered  May  13, 
1659:  "John  Smith,  Rock,'  is  licensed  to  keep  an 
ordinary  and  to  sell  meat  and  drink  and  lodging  for 
strangers  with  their  retinue,  both  for  horse  and  man 
and  to  keep  such  good  order  that  it  may  not  be 
offensive  to  the  laws  of  God  and  of  this  place " 
(Book  A,  p.  54).  A  high  license  law  had  already 
been  passed  by  the  General  Town  Meeting,  Novem- 
ber 27,  1658 :  "  It  is  ordered  that  any  manner  of 
person  or  persons  inhabiting  within  the  town  of 
Hempstede  that  after  the  day  of  the  date  hereof, 
shall  sell  eyther  wine,  beere,  or  any  manner  of  drams, 
or  stronge  licquors,  that  they  shall  make  entry  of 

'  Rock,  a  name  borne  for  distinction  by  the  younger  John  Smith 
of  Stamford.  He  was  usually  called  "  Rock  John.''  The  inn,  at 
this  period,  was  always  kept  by  some  leading  man  of  the  town. 


144  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

the  same  unto  the  Clerck,  and  shall  pay  for  any 
kinde  of  drams  or  spannish  wine,  the  som  of  5  guild- 
ers the  ancker :  for  the  half  satt  of  strong  beere  12 
guilders,  for  the  ancker  of  French  wine  3  guilders, 
one  half  to  be  imployed  for  the  provision  of  amoni- 
tion  for  the  use  of  the  town,  and  the  other  moytie 
and  half  part  for  the  education  of  poor  orphants,  or 
other  poore  inhabitants  children." 

Governor  Dongan  writes  in  1683,  that  ";^52  have 
been  offered  for  the  Excise  of  L.  I.,  but  I  thought 
it  unreasonable,  it  being  the  best  peopled  place  in 
this  governirit  and  wherein  is  great  consumption  of 
Rumme." ' 

In  1698,  the  Town  granted  liberty  to  John  Robin- 
son to  set  up  a  grist  and  fulling  mill  at  the  Head- 
of-the-Harbour,  on  condition  of  grinding  for  its 
inhabitants  one  twelfth  of  all  the  grain  ground.  The 
mill  passed  to  various  owners,  until  finally  it  came 
into  the  possession  of  Hendrick  Onderdonk,  grand- 
father of  the  Bishops  Onderdonk.  In  1773,  Mr. 
Onderdonk  built  a  paper  mill  also,  the  second  in 

'  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  English  administration,  Governor 
Nicoll  had  given  immunity  from  taxation,  and  a  monopoly  of  vine 
culture  to  one  Paule  Richard,  who  had  "  Intent  to  plant  vines  on  his 
Plantation  called  the  Little  fifiefe  on  Loiig  Island."  It  was  ordered 
that  all  wines  made  by  him,  "  If  sold  in  grosse  should  be  ffree  from 
any  Kinde  of  Impositions  and  by  retaile  for  30  yeares,  ffree  from  all 
Imports  and  excise.  Further,  that  every  person  who  should  here- 
after for  30  years  to  come,  plant  Vines  in  any  place  within  the  Gov- 
erment  shall  pay  to  the  saide  paul  Richards,  his  heirs,  executors  and 
assigns,  5  shillings  for  every  acre  so  planted."  The  outcome  of  this 
enterprise  is  not  on  record,  but  two  years  later,  Richard,  in  debt  to 
Cornelis  Steenwyck,  for  six  hogsheads  of  wine,  promises  to  pay 
' '  with  the  first  wine  he  shall  come  to  get  out  of  his  vineyard  planted 
in  these  parts." 


COMMERCIAL  POLICY.  145 

the  Colony,  and  Hugh  Gaine,  the  bold  editor  of  the 
New  York  Mercury,  was  his  agent  for  the  sale  of  the 
paper. 

Enlightened  views  in  regard  to  commerce  were 
early  held  by  our  Long  Island  forefathers.  Novem- 
ber 2,  1609,  Hempstead  addressed  to  the  Governor, 
a  petition  with  ten  specifications,  among  which  the 
most  noteworthy  is  the  request  that  "  All  harbours, 
creeks  and  coves  within  this  colony  be  at  libertie  for 
any  shipping  or  vessels  to  come  in  and  trade  free." 
In  reply  the  Governor  said  :  "  It  is  not  thought 
equitable  that  any  small  creek  or  cove  shall  have 
greater  privileges  than  ye  Head  City  of  ye  Govern- 
ment where  ye  Customes  are  established." 

Hempstead  jealously  guarded  her  prerogatives, 
territorial,  political,  or  spiritual.  In  1661,  "Leave 
is  granted "  Thomas  Terry  and  Samuel  Bearing, 
Planters,  to  settle  at  Martinecock  within  certain 
specified  limits,  but  the  Town  Book  goes  on  to  say, 
"  They  are  to  bring  in  no  Quakers  nor  such  like 
Opinionists,  nor  are  they  to  let  their  cattle  come  on 
to  the  Great  plaines  and  spoile  our  corn."  A  cen- 
tury later,  is  another  protest  against  intrusion.  It 
is  written  in  the  Town  Book  F,  p.  92  :  "  Whereas  a 
great  many  strangers  having  no  right  nor  title  in 
this  town  have  for  many  years  past  and  still  con- 
tinue to  come  into  the  Bays  and  Creeks  within  the 
Pattent,  with  sloops,  boats  and  other  vessels,  carry- 
ing away  very  large  quantities  of  Clams  which  prac- 
tice is  a  great  detriment  to  the  Inhabitants  of  this 
Town,  especially  the  Poorer  Sort  who  Receive  great 
benefit  from  their  part  of  the  fishery,  as  welf  as 
using  the  same  in  support  of  their  Families,  as  by 


146  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

getting  them  for  sale,  and  it  is  highly  reasonable 
that  the  Inhabitants  of  the  town  should  have  the 
benefit  and  privileges  of  the  town  .  .  .  there- 
fore the  Town  appoints  Overseers  to  prevent 
strangers  coming,  and  if  any  should  presume  to  dig, 
rake  or  gather  clams,  to  prosecute  them." 

An  Act  is  passed  for  the  "  Laying  out  of  a  High- 
wai,"  April  2,  1717,  and  thenceforward  there  is 
much  town  legislation  and  litigation  on  the  subject. 
In  1 761,  "  To  the  Commissioners  and  Assessors  of 
the  Highways  and  Roads  of  the  Town  of  Hemp- 
stead, the  Petition  of  the  Freeholders  showeth, 

"  Whereas  the  commodity  and  advantage  of  the 
Inhabitants  greatly  depends  upon  having  access  to 
the  Publick  wattering-places  at  the  East  Meadow  on 
Hempstead  Plains,  for  all  sorts  of  cattel  and  other 
Creatures,  &  whereas  there  is  some  probability  of 
Encroachment  being  made  by  some  persons  for 
their  private  interest  in  stoping  up  and  Imbar- 
rifying  the  water  to  the  great  damage  of  the  Pub- 
lick,"  etc.,  etc. — the  petitioners  seek  the  protection 
of  their  interests. 

The  Patent  of  the  Director-General  Kieft  and  the 
purchase  from  the  Indians  were  deemed  quite  suf- 
ficient authority  for  the  occupation  of  Hempstead, 
but  in  1683,  the  townsmen  were  obliged  to  meet 
Governor  Dongan's  insistence  upon  a  new  patent. 
Mr.  John  Jackson,  Mr.  John  Seaman,'  and  Mr.  John 
Tredwell   were  chosen    to    go  to  New  York,  and 

'  Captain  Seaman,  with  his  six  sons,  settled  Jerusalem  in  1665,  on 
land  bought  from  the  Meroke  Indians,  and  confirmed  by  special 
patent  from  Governor  NicoU. 


QUIT.RENTS.  147 

negotiate  the  affair.  All  business  moved  slowly  in 
those  days,  and  a  year  after,  nothing  had  been  done. 
Jackson  and  Tredwell,  with  Symon  Searing,  were 
then  sent  under  instructions  "  to  get  the  Patent  as 
reasonable  as  they  can  for  the  good  of  themselves 
and  the  other  inhabitants."  Twice  again,  during 
the  year,  deputies  were  sent,  with  no  result.  Finally, 
the  Town  Meeting  of  April  3,  1685,  re-appointed 
Jackson  and  Tredwell,  with  Jonathan  Smith,  Senior, 
to  go  to  New  York.  The  Patent  was  given  two 
weeks  later.  A  tax  of  two  and  a  half  pence  per 
acre  was  then  assessed  on  the  freeholders  to  pay  for 
the  Patent  and  the  attendant  expenses. 

The  quit-rents  of  the  various  English  patents  were 
a  heavy  burden  to  all  Long  Island.  The  payment 
was  often  evaded,  always  delayed,  although  the  day 
of  reckoning  was  sure  to  come.  At  the  General  Town 
Meeting  of  Hempstead,  April  23,  1741,  John  Cornell 
and  Jacob  Smith  were  "  appointed  by  the  Town  to 
goe  down  to  New  York  and  pay  the  Quitt  Rent  of 
our  General  Patent  of  Hempstead  that  is  behind, 
and  agree  for  ye  charges  that  is  already  accrued  by 
neglect  of  not  being  paid,  and  make  report  thereof 
to  the  town,  and  they  to  be  repaid  by  the  town 
again,  and  six  per  cent  interest  to  be  allowed  them 
until  they  be  paid  again." 

In  I72r,  George  Sheresby  taught  school  on  Cow 
Neck.  There  is  no  trace  found  of  the  earlier  schools, 
which  for  nearly  four-score  years  certainly  must 
have  existed  in  Hempstead.  The  Flower  Hill  School 
was  established  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
1748,  Nicholas  Berrington  there  "  taught  Youth  to 


148  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

write  the  usual  hand :  Arithmetic  in  both  kinds  with 
Extraction  of  the  Roots,  as  also  Navigation  &  Mer- 
chants Accts  after  an  Italian  manner."  Later,  the 
Reverend  Samuel  Seabury,  Rector  of  St.  George's 
Church,  opened  a  school  in  the  Rectory,  which  pro- 
posed "to  entertain  young  gentlemen  in  a  genteel 
manner  for  £'},o  a  year." 

The  first  church  in  Hempstead  was  the  Indepen- 
dent Meeting-house,  built  in  1647,  a  few  rods  north- 
east of  Burly  Pond  in  Hempstead  village.  This 
building,  twenty-four  feet  square,  was  used  for  all 
public  assemblies,  civic  or  religious,  during  nearly 
thirty  years.  But,  at  the  Town  Meeting,  April  i, 
1673,  "  Mr.  Seaman  and  John  Smith,  blue,  were 
chosen  to  agree  with  Joseph  Carpenter  to  build  a 
new  meeting-house,  34  feet  long,  22  feet  wide  and 
12  feet  stud,  with  a  leanto  on  each  side,  the  new 
house  to  be  set  at  the  west  end  of  the  old  one."  It 
was  roofed  with  cedar  shingles,  clap-boarded  with 
oak,  and  ceiled  within  with  pine.  Built,  as  had  been 
the  first  house,  by  civic  authority  out  of  public 
funds,  it  was  used  for  all  meetings,  secular  or  reli- 
gious. Across  the  little  brook  on  a  gentle  slope,  stood 
the  parsonage,  and  to  its  glebe  belonged  a  hundred 
acres  of  salt  meadow,  known  as  "  the  Parsonage  at 
the  South  Bay,"  the  property  of  the  Town,  of  whom 
the  minister  was  the  tenant.  The  parsonage  was 
afterward  taken  possession  of  by  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  the  present  picturesque  old  rectory 
stands  on  the  site  of  the  "  comfortable  house " 
built  for  the  Reverend  Jeremiah  Hobart  (Hubbard) 
in  1682. 


THE  FIRST  MEETING  HOUSE.  149 

It  is  uncertain  if  there  were  any  "settled"  min- 
ister between  the  departure  of  Mr.  Denton  in  1659 
and  the  coming  of  Mr.  Hobart,  although  the  more 
or  less  brief  ministry  of  Mr.  Jonas  Fordham  falls 
within  this  period.  There  is  preserved  a  curious 
correspondence  in  reference  to.  the  stay  of  Mr. 
Denton,  this  Moses  of  the  Connecticut  Exodus.  It 
was  between  the  "  Right  worshipfull  peeter  Stiua- 
sent,"  and  Richard  Gildersleeve,  "  in  the  name  and 
behaulf  of  the  town  of  Hemsteed,  25  of  July, 
1659."  Stuyvesant's  final  words  are  that,  "  Wee  sal 
use  al  endevors  we  ken,  iff  hee  ken  not  bee  per- 
suaded, jou  must  looke  for  another  Abel  and  Godly 
man  wearunto  wee  on  our  scyde  sal  contribute  waht 
ys  in  our  power." 

Mr.  Hobart  remained  as  pastor  until  1696,  when 
he  removed  to  Haddam,  Connecticut.'  From  that 
time,  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  there  was  no 
"  settled  "  minister  until  the  first  Presbyterian  pastor 
was  installed  in  1818."  The  Independents,  however, 
held  their  ground,  and,  in  1762,  had  built  a  new 
house,  the  third,  on  part  of  the  old  burying  ground 
and  on  nearly  the  site  of  the  present  Presbyterian 
Church.  During  the  Revolution  it  was  used  as  bar- 
racks for  the  division  of  the  British  army  quartered 

'  Mr.  Hobart  died  in  1717,  aged  eighty-seven.  He  was  the  grand- 
father of  David  Brainard,  so  zealous  in  efforts  for  Indian  education. 

'  The  various  incumbents  during  the  Colonial  period  were  : 

Richard  Denton 1644-59     Benj.  Woolsey 1736-56 

Jonas  Fordham 1659-81     Abraham  Kettletas 1760-65 

Jeremiah  Hobart 1682-96    Hotchkiss 1770 

Joseph  Lamb 1717-25    Joshua  Hart 1772-6 

1787-93 


ISO  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

in  Hempstead,  and  suffered  much  from  reckless 
abuse.  It  was  burned  in  1803.  About  the  church 
is  the  old  village  graveyard  in  which  were  the  ear- 
liest burials  of  the  town.  Unmarked  now,'  a  billowy 
field  of  sunken,  nameless  graves,  overrun  by  a  tangled 
mat  of  blackberry -and  cinquefoil — what  unwritten 
history  is  there ! 

In  1674,  a  petition  was  addressed  to  Governor 
Andros,  that  "  His  Honour  being  the  father  of  this 
Comon  welth  .  .  .  would  be  pleased  to  instal 
such  athority  amongst  us  as  may  be  means  under 
god  for  upholding  and  maintaining  of  the  menestry 
and  worship  of  god  amongst  us."  But  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  no  services  of  the  Church  of 
England  were  yet  held.  In  1693,  there  was  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard,  William  Vesey,  a  youth  trained  by 
Increase  Mather  after  the  straitest  sect  of  Puritanism. 
He  preached  in  Hempstead  and  in  New  York  as  an 
Independent  minister,  but  was  persuaded  by  Colonel 
Heathcote  to  go  to  England  for  orders.  He  was 
received  into  the  priesthood  by  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
London,  August  2,  1697.  Returning  to  America, 
he  became  the  first  rector  of  Trinity,  and  his  ability 
gave  to  the  Church  of  England  its  precedence  in 
the  province  of  New  York. 

By  the  Ministry  Act  of  1693,  Queens  County  was 
divided  into  the  Precincts,  or  Parishes,  of  Hemp- 
stead and  Jamaica.  Jamaica  included  Flushing,  and 
Hempstead,  Oyster  Bay;  each  parish  supporting  a 
missionary  by  the  yearly  payment  of  £60.     The  first 

1  The  stones  were  torn  up  for  hearth-stones,  or  used  in  construction 
of  the  soldiers'  rude  ovens. 


THE  REVEREND   GEORGE  KEITH.  151 

Episcopal  services  were  held  in  Hempstead,  in  1698, 
by  tlie  Reverend  George  Keith,  who  was,  in  earlier 
life,  a  Quaker.  Four  years  later,  he  writes :  "  I 
preached  at  Hampstead  on  Long  Island  where  there 
was  such  a  multitude  of  people  that  the  Church 
could  not  hold  them,  and  many  stood  without  at 
doors  and  windows  to  hear :  who  were  well-affected 
and  greatly  desired  that  a  Church  of  England  Mini- 
ster should  be  settled  amongst  them,  which  has  been 
done  for  the  Reverend  John  Thomas  is  now  their 
minister." 

November  21,  1703,  he  writes  in  his  Journal: 
"  I  preached  at  Hampstead  Church  and  Lodged  the 
Night  at  Isaac  Smith's  House  4  Miles  Distant  from 
the  Church  &  there  I  baptised  a  young  woman  of 
his  Family  and  a  Boy  and  Girl  of  his  relatives,  and  a 
neighbour's  children,  all  boys.  This  Isaac  Smith  had 
been  formerly  a  quaker  and  was  scarce  then  fully 
come  off,  but  came  and  heard  me  Preach,  and  was 
well-affected  and  did  kindly  entertain  me." 

The  Reverend  John  Thomas  was  the  Missioner  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  For- 
eign Parts,  appointed  in  1702.  In  1704,  his  induc- 
tion to  the  Church  of  Hempstead  was  thus  ordered  : 

"  Edward,  the  most  noble  Viscount  Cornbury, 
Captain  general.  Governor  of  New  York  in  America, 
Vice-Admiral  of  the  same,  &c.,  &c.  To  ALL  and 
singular,  the  Rectors,  Vicars,  Chaplains,  Curates, 
Clergymen  and  ministers,  whatsoever  throughout 
the  Province  aforesaid,  wherever  established,  and 
also  to  the  present  Church- Wardens  of  the  parochial 
Church  of  Hempstead,  Greeting : 


152  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  Whereas  I  commit  to  you,  jointly  and  severally, 
our  beloved  in  Christ,  John  Thomas,  Clergyman 
presented  to  the  Rectory,  or  parochial  Church  of 
Hempstead,  now  vacant,  to  be  instituted  as  rector 
of  the  said  Rectory,  or  parochial  church,  in  and  of 
the  same,  and  firmly  enjoying,  I  command  that  ye 
collate  and  induct,  or  cause  to  be  inducted,  the  same 
John  Thomas,  Clergyman,  into  the  real,  actual  and 
corporal  possession  of  the  rectorate,  or  parochial 
Church  of  Hempstead,  of  the  glebes  and  all  its 
rights  and  appurtenances,  and  that  ye  defend  him 
so  inducted,  and  what  ye  shall  have  done  in  the 
premises,  ye  will  certify  me,  or  some  other  duly 
competent  judge  in  their  behalf,  or  he  will  certify 
whoever  of  you  being  present,  may  have  executed 
this  mandate. 

"  Given  under  the  perogative  seal  of  the  said 
Province,  the  26th  day  of  December,  Anno  Domini, 
1704.  "  CORNBURY. 

"  Geo.  Clarke,  Secy." 

Following  this  ponderous  charge,  is  the  "  Return  " 
of  the  wardens : 

"  We  whose  names  are  subscribed  by  virtue  of  the 
above  instrument,  have  inducted  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Thomas  into  the  real,  actual  and  corporal  possession 
of  the  Rectorship,  or  Church  of  Hempstead,  this 
27th  day  of  December,  Anno  Domini,  1704. 
"  Thos.  Jones, 
"  Thos.  Gildersleeve, 
"  William  Vesey, 
"  William  Urquhart, 

"  Church  Wardens." 


THE  RECTORATE   OF  HEMPSTEAD.  1 53 

Mr.  Thomas's  letters  to  the  "  S.  P.  G.  F.  P."  throw 
many  interesting  side-lights  upon  the  time.  In 
1705,  he  writes:  "The  people  of  Hempstead  are 
better  disposed  to  peace  and  civility  than  they  at 
Jamaica."  Again,  he  says:  "  The  gall  of  bitterness 
of  this  Independent  Kidney  is  inconceivable,  not 
unlike  that  of  Demetrius  and  his  associates  at  the 
conceived  downfall  of  the  great  Diana  of  the 
Ephesians."  Soon  after,  he  says  :  "  I  have  neither 
pulpit  nor  any  one  thing  necessary  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Eucharist,  and  only  the  beat  of  a  drum 
to  call  the  people  together.  His  Excellency,  Lord 
Cornbury,  is  a  true  nursing  father  to  our  infancy 
here.  His  countenance  and  protection  is  never 
wanting  to  us,  being  by  inclination  a  true  son  of  the 
Church,  which  moves  him  zealously  to  support 
that  wholly.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  support  of 
Lord  Cornbury  and  his  government,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  have  settled  a  Church  on  the 
island." 

Mr.  Thomas  describes  the  beautiful  Hempstead 
region  as  an  "  even  delightsome  plain,  16  miles  long, 
richly  furnished  with  beef,  mutton  and  fowls  of  all 
sort,  the  air  sharp  and  severe  and  not  subject  to 
those  fulsome  fogs  so  natural  to  the  English  climate. 
The  place  is  sweet  and  pleasant.  Brother  Urquhart 
(of  Jamaica)  and  I  are  the  first  that  brake  the  ice 
amongst  this  sturdy  obstinate  people,  who  endeavour 
as  in  them  lies  to  crush  us  in  embryo."  In  1709, 
Mr.  Thomas  writes  that  although  Hempstead  had 
been  "  settled  above  sixty  years  before  my  coming 
and  the  people  had  some  sort  of  dissenting  minis- 


154  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

ters,  yet  for  above  fifty-five  years  the  sacrament  had 
never  been  administered  here.  I  have  brought 
thirty-three  to  the  full  communion  of  the  Church." 
A  year  later,  he  notes  the  "  happy  continuance  of 
mutual  accord  "  between  himself  and  his  parishioners. 

The  records  of  the  Church  begin  during  the  in- 
cumbency of  the  Reverend  Robert  Jenney,  who  was 
in  Hempstead  from  1725  to  1742.  He  preached  in 
the  Independent  Meeting-house  until  the  parish 
church  of  Saint  George  was  built  on  the  site  still 
occupied.  Mr.  Jenney,  writing  of  the  need  for  a 
church,  says  :  "  My  congregation  has  grown  too  big 
for  the  house  I  officiate  in,  which  is  also  very  much 
gone  to  decay,  and  too  old  and  crazy  to  be  repaired 
and  enlarged  to  any  purpose."  On  April  8,  1734, 
the  freeholders  of  the  town  met  and  laid  out  the 
church  plot.  Anthony  Yelverton  was  appointed 
"  Head  housewright."  The  work  of  building  went 
on  through  the  year  in  the  slow  fashion  of  the  age, 
but  the  church  was  finished  in  time  to  be  consecrated 
on  Saint  George's  Day,  1735.  Then,  when  Hemp- 
stead Plains  were  the  fairest,  in  their  first  flush  of 
spring  luxuriance,  when  the  earth-odour  came  from 
the  newly  ploughed  fields,  when  cherry  trees  were 
blooming  along  the  fence-rows  and  dogwood  whiten- 
ing the  forest  recesses,  a  stately  procession  from 
New  York,  led  by  the  Governor's  coach-and-six, 
drove  out  in  the  sunshine  and  the  breeze,  to  the 
solemn  ceremonies  and  to  the  festivities  of  the  hos- 
pitable town-folk. 

The  New  York  Gazette  gives  the  story  in  detail. 
Chief-Justice  De  Lancey,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Vesey, 


SAINT  GEORGE'S  CHURCH.  155 

the  Governor  and  his  party  were  met  by  the  towns- 
people, six  miles  west  of  Jamaica.  They  dined  at 
Jamaica  and  were  escorted  thence  to  Hempstead. 
The  next  day,  in  presence  of  a  "  great  concourse 
and  a  regiment  of  militia  drawn  up  on  either  side," 
Mr.  Jenney  preached  from  the  first  verses  of  the 
eighty-fourth  Psalm  :  "  How  amiable  are  thy  taber- 
nacles, O  Lord."  After  the  service,  "  his  Excellency 
reviewed  the  military  and  was  entertained  in  a  splen- 
did manner  by  Colonel  Tredwell,  and  in  the  evening 
by  Colonel  Cornwell  of  Rockaway.  The  Governor 
presented  to  the  church  the  King's  Arms,  painted 
and  gilded.'  The  Secretary,  Mr.  Clarke,  gave  a  set 
of  crimson  damask  furniture  ;  John  Marsh,  Esq.,'  a 
silver  basin  for  baptisms,"  while  Mr.  Vesey  and  others 
made  up  a  sum  of  fifty  pounds.  The  church  was 
already  the  owner  of  eucharistic  vessels  given  by 
Queen  Anne,  a  chalice  inscribed  Ann^  Regin^, 
and  a  small  paten  that  might  be  used  as  its  cover. 
A  sketch  of  the  church  with  its  shingled  sides  and 
rounded  windows,  the  only  existing  representation 
known,  was  found  a  few  years  ago  on  the  fly-leaf 
of  an  old  school  book  of  Walter  Nicoll's.  The 
building  was  fifty  feet  in  length  and  thirty-six  in 
breadth,  with  a  tower  fourteen  feet  square,  sur- 
mounted by  a  steeple  which  rose  one  hundred 
feet.  At  the  entrance  was  a  tablet  which  bore  the 
words : 

'  Removed  by  Mr.  Cutting  in  1776. 

*  Mr.  Marsh  was  an  invalid  from  the  West  Indies  who  spent  his 
summers  in  Hempstead.  At  his  death,  a  few  years  later,  he  be- 
queathed ;^ioo  for  the  purchase  of  a  bell. 


IS6  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  Keep  thy  foot  when  thou  goest  to  the  House  of 
God.— Eccl.  V.  I." 

There  were  eighteen  pews  within,  and  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Vestry,  a  deed  of  "  Pew  No.  I."  was 
given  to  the  Honourable  George  Clarke,  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of  New  York,  then  living  at  Hyde 
Park. 

Very  soon,  June  27,  1735,  the  "  Petition  '  of  the 
Inhabitants  of  the  Parish  for  the  Corporation  of  St. 
George's  Church,"  was  presented  to  the  Governor. 
The  charter  then  given  is  still  in  the  possession  of 
the  church. 

In  October,  1742,  Mr.  Jenney  went  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  December  loth  was  inducted  the  Rev- 
erend Samuel  Seabury,  of  the  Devonshire  house  of 
Sedborough,  and  of  the  best  Pilgrim  and  Huguenot 

'  Signed  by  the 

Rev'd  Robert  Jenney,  Rector. 

Jas.  Albertus  Thos.  Lee 

Geo.  Balden  Robert  Marvin 

Gerhardns  Clowes  Ja.  Mott 

Clerk  of  the  Vestry  Chas.  Peters  M.D, 

Wm  Cornell  Sen.  &  Jun.  Ja.  Pine  Sr. 

John  Cornell  Jun.  J.  Roe 

John  Cornell  Micah  Smith 

Richard  Cornell  Jr.  Peter  Smith 

William  Cornell  Peter  Smith  Jr. 

Thos.  Cornell  Jacob  Smith 

Thos.  Gildersleeve  Silas  Smith 

Geo.  Gildersleeve  Ro.  Sutton 

Daniel  Hewlett  Rich.  Thorne  Esq. 

Jas.  Hugins  Joseph  Thorne  Esq. 

Joseph  Langdon  Thos.  Williams 
Wm  Langdon 


THE  EARLY  RECTORS.  157 

lineage,  a  man  of  rare  graces  of  mind  and  heart.' 
His  successor  was  Leonard  Cutting,  of  Pembroke 
College,  Oxford.  A  polished  man,  a  fine  classical 
scholar,  he  had  been,  after  a  brief  curacy  in  New- 
Brunswick,  for  several  years  the  Professor  of  Classics 
at  King's  College.  He  was  in  Hempstead  nearly 
twenty  years,  through  all  the  troublous  days  of  that 
civil  war  which  so  desolated  Long  Island. 

The  New  York  Packet  of  November  10,  1785, 
has  the  following  notice  : 

"  On  Thursday  last,  the  3rd,  Mr  John  Lowe,  a 
gentleman  from  Virginia,  received  holy  orders  from 
the  hands  of  the  Right  Reverend  Samuel  Sea- 
BURY,"  Bishop  of  the  Episcopal  Protestant  Church 
in  Connecticut,  in  Saint  George's  Church  at  Hamp- 

'  His  life  is  briefly  told  on  the  stone  in  Saint  George's  Churchyard  : 

"  Here  lieth  buried 

The  Body  of 

The  Reverend  Samuel  Seabury  A.  M. 

Rector  of  the  Parish  of  Hempstead 

Who 

With  the  greatest  Diligence 

And 
Most  indefatigable  Labour 
For  13  years  at  New  London 
And  21  years  in  this  Parish 
Having  discharged  every  duty 
Of  his  sacred  function 
Died  the  15th  of  June,  an  Dom  1764,  Aet.  58 
In  gratitude  to  the  memory  of 
The  best  of  Husbands 
His  disconsolate  widow  Elizabeth  Seabuiy 
Hath  placed  this  stone." 
'  Son  of  the  Rector  of  Saint  George's,  and  the  first  American  Bishop. 
Going  to  England  to  receive  the  episcopate,  Bishop  Lowth  of  Lon- 
don refused  to  consecrate  a  man  returning  to  a  diocese  in  the  United 


IS8  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

stead  on  Long  Island.  As  this  was  the  first  instance 
of  an  ordinance  of  the  Church  which  has  ever  taken 
place  in  this  state,  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  was 
almost  beyond  description — the  excellent  sermon 
delivered  by  the  Bishop,  the  prayers  and  tears  of 
himself,  his  Presbyters  and  the  numerous  assembly 
for  the  success  of  this  gentleman  in  his  ministry, 
will  long  be  had  in  remembrance  by  every  spec- 
tator." 

When  Philip  Cox,  the  first  circuit-rider  on  Long 
Island,  began  his  work  in  1784,  he  found  two  Metho- 
dist Societies,  one  in  Newtown  at  Middelburgh 
Village,  and  one  in  Comae,  with  an  aggregate  of 
twenty-four  members.  A  Society  was  formed  at 
Jamaica,  and  near  Hempstead  Harbour,  "  Hannah 
Searing,  an  aged  and  respectable  widow-lady,  opened 
her  house  for  preaching,  and  very  many  attended 
until  an  alarm  was  sounded  that  the  false  prophet 
foretold  in  Scripture  had  come."  But  this  seed 
sown  by  the  wayside  did  not  perish.  A  society  was 
formed  and  a  meeting-house  built.  Bishop  As- 
bury,  in  his  Journal,  under  date  of  May  22,  1787, 
says :  "  rode  20  miles  on  Long  Island  to  Hempstead 

States.  There  were  endless  delays,  and  Mr.  Seabury  remained  a 
year  in  London,  until  money  and  patience  were  nearly  exhausted. 
He  then  went  to  Scotland,  where  the  Episcopalians  were  ardent  Jaco- 
bites, still  using  the  liturgy  of  Edward  VI. 's  first  Prayer-book  and  in 
no  sympathy  with  the  lower  Church  of  England.  Seabury  was  wel- 
comed by  these  men  living  alike  "  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile  Presby- 
terian community,"  or  with  nonjuring  Churchmen.  Bishop  John 
Skinner  had  a  private  chapel  in  his  house  at  Aberdeen  in  which  Sea- 
bury was  consecrated  November  14,  1784,  by  Bishop  Skinner,  Robert 
Kilgour,  and  Arthur  Petrie.  With  his  return,  there  was  first  an 
organised  Episcopal  Church  in  America. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  IN  HEMPSTEAD.       1 59 

Harbour,  and  preached  with  some  liberty  in  the 
evening,  at  Searingtown."  That  house,  the  oldest 
Methodist  Church  on  Long  Island,  a  neat  belfried 
building,  with  cedar-shingled  sides,  still  stands  in 
the  beautiful  champaign  where  the  Plains  break 
into  the  undulating  ground  of  the  North  Side.  The 
old  name  of  Searingtown  clings  to  the  region,  al- 
though on  its  fertile  farms  there  is  not  now  living 
one  of  the  original  owners. 

Hempstead  bitterly  opposed  the  coming  of  the 
Quakers,  but,  after  a  few  years,  a  Friends'  Meeting 
was  established  at  Westbury.  The  first  mention 
thereof  is  made, — "  1671,  3  month  23rd  day.  It  is 
adjudged  there  shall  be  a  meeting  at  the  Woodedge, 
the  25th  of  4  month,  and  so,  every  first  day." 

The  Hempstead  planters  brought  from  England 
that  profound  regard  for  land  which  is  the  basis  of 
a  true  aristocracy.  There  were  established  the  first 
homesteads  of  many  of  the  most  honoured  families 
of  the  State,  and  their  descendants  are  spread  over 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  continent.  Life 
moved  quietly  on  in  the  first  century  of  colonisa- 
tion. The  hardships  of  pioneer  life  gave  place  to 
the  amenities  of  a  refined  and  intelligent  society, 
not  unfamiliar  with  the  court-life  of  New  York,  and 
not  seldom  polished  by  education  "  at  home." 
Letters '   and    journals  of   the    eighteenth  century 

'  A  little  girl  of  eleven  writes  in  this  stately  style  to  her  grand- 
father : 

"  Ever  Honoured  Grandfather  : 
"  Sir, 

"My  long  absence  from  you  and  my  dear  Grandmother  has  been 
not  a  little  tedious  to  me.     But  what  renders  me  a  Vast  Deal  of 


l6o  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

picture  a  well-established  order  of  life,  and  the  social 
conventionalities  of  the  Old  World. 

The  Town  Records  are  continuous  until  1784. 
Throughout  the  Revolution,  in  which  struggle 
Hempstead  was  intensely  and  conscientiously  loyal, 
the  Town  Meetings  were  regularly  held ;  protests 
against  rebellion,  pledges  of  allegiance,  transfers  of 
land,  and  the  business  of  the  Township  are  all  re- 
corded in  the  clear  script  of  the  nearly  forty  years 
Clerk  of  the  Town,  Valentine  Hewlett  Peters. 

Then  a  new  election  was  held,'  and  soon  the  divi- 
sion was  made  of  the  historic  old  town  whose  mem- 
ory is  so  dear  to  her  descendants.  At  the  Town 
Meeting,  the  first  Tuesday  of  April,  1784,  "As  a  Bill 
was  before  the  Legislature  dividing  the  township 
into  North  Hempstead  and  South  Hempstead," 
which  it  is  Likely  will  soon  be  passed  into  a  Law, 

pleasure  is  Being  intensely  happy  with  a  Dear  and  Tender  Mother-in- 
law  and  frequent  oppertunities  of  hearing  of  your  Health  and  Wel- 
fair  which  I  pray  God  may  long  Continue.  What  I  have  more  to 
add  is  to  acquaint  you  that  I  have  already  made  a  Considerable  pro- 
gress in  Learning.  I  have  already  gone  through  some  Rules  of 
Arithmetick,  and  in  a  little  time  shall  be  able  of  giving  you  Better 
acct  of  my  Learning,  and  in  mean  time  I  am  in  Duty  Bound  to  sub- 
scribe myself 

"  Your  most  obedient  and  Duty  full  granddaughter 

"  Pegga  Teedwell. 
"  To  Major  Epenetus  Piatt 
at  Huntting  town." 

'  At  a  Town  Meeting  held  at  Hempstead  the  22d  of  December, 
1783,  being  the  first  that  was  held  by  authority  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  John  Shenck,  T.  C. 

'All  below  the  Jericho  Turnpike  was  South  Hempstead.  That 
name  was  used  until  1796,  when  that  portion  of  the  old  town  was 
again  called  Hempstead. 


DIVISION  OF  THE   TOWN. 


i6i 


it  is  farther  voted  that  this  meeting  be  adjourned 
until  next  Tuesday  April  i8th."  The  next  entry- 
is  of  a  "  Town  Meeting  held  at  Searing  Town,  at 
the  house  of  Sam'l  Searing,  for  choosing  ofificers  for 
North  Hempstead,  April  13,  1784." 

A  year  later,  March  31,  1785,  the  Legislature 
voted  that  a  new  Court  House  should  be  built  at 
the  geographical  centre  of  Queens  County.  This 
point  was  on  the  Great  Plains,  "within  one  mile  of 
the  Windmill  Pond,"  near  the  present  village  of 
Mineola.  There  the  old  building,  long  perverted 
from  judicial  uses,  still  stands.  It  seems  to  belong 
to  a  by-gone  age,  but  before  its  corner-stone  was 
laid  the  history  of  the  original  town  of  Hempstead 
had  closed. 


IX. 


OTHER     QUEENS     COUNTY     TOWNS:     NEWTOWN, 
FLUSHING,   OYSTER  BAY,   JAMAICA. 

IN  August,  1638,  Director-General  Kieft  bought 
of  the  Indians,  for  the  West  India  Company,  a 
tract  of  land  two  miles  broad,  extending  along 
the  East  River  four  miles  beyond  the  Waale-Boght, 
and  inland  to  the  Mespaetches  Swamp.  The  first 
settler  thereon  was  the  Dutch  yeoman,  Hans  'T 
Boore,  who  owned  two  hundred  morgens  at  'T 
Kreupel  Bosch,  near  the  head  of  the  Mespat  Kills.' 
A  little  later,^  an  Englishman,  Richard  Brutnell, 
came  to  the  mouth  of  the  creek ;  Tymen  Jorisen, 
shipwright  of  the  West  Indian  Company,  had  set- 
tled oh  the  east  side  of  the  Canapauka,  and  next 
northward  were  the  lands  of  Burger  Joris,  a  Silesian 
smith  and  trader,  who  had  first  settled  at  Rensselaer- 
wyck.  The  Canapauka,  or  Dutch  Kills,  sluggishly 
winding   through   the    salt    meadows    of    bronzed 

'  Now  Maspeth  ;  from  the  Indian  Metsepe  ;  in  Dutch,  the  Maes- 
paetches  Killetje.  The  stream  was  also  called  the  English  Kills, 
and,  later,  Newtown  Creek. 

*  The  date  of  the  grant  was  July  3,  1643,  although  the  men  were 
there  some  time  earlier. 

162 


THE  IMP  UL  SB  OF  ENGLISH  SE  T  TLB  MEN  T.      1 63 

grasses,  was  soon  known  as  Burger  Kills,  from  the  tide- 
water mills  built  thereon  by  the  enterprising  Joris. 

The  first  impulse  toward  English  settlement  came 
from  the  ecclesiastical  disputes  so  rife  in  New  Eng- 
land. In  1640,  some  Englishmen,  settlers  of  Lynn 
and  of  Ipswich,  harassed  by  the  same  insatiate  spirit 
which  had  banished  Roger  Williams  and  Anne 
Hutchinson,  came  to  Nieuw  Amsterdam  to  "  solicit 
leave  to  settle  among  the  Dutch,"  and  to  negotiate 
for  a  grant  of  land  upon  Long  Island.  On  condi- 
tion of  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  States- 
General  and  to  the  West  India  Company,  Kieft 
promised  a  patent  giving  religious  freedom,  the 
right  of  appointing  magistrates  under  approval  of 
the  Director-General,  the  occupancy  of  the  land 
rent  free  for  ten  years,  with  the  commercial  privi- 
leges of  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  This  patent  they  were 
eager  to  accept,  but  the  General  Court  of  Massachu- 
setts, displeased  at  the  prospect  of  their  "  strength- 
ening the  Dutch,  our  doubtful  neighbours,"  and 
receiving  from  a  rival  power  the  lands  granted  to 
Lord  Sterling,  persuaded  them  to  give  up  the  plan. 

Two  years  later.  Long  Island  was  again  sought  as 
a  haven  of  refuge.  The  Reverend  Francis  Doughty' 
was  a  preacher  in  Cohasset,  then  called  Hingham, 
where  a  "  controversie  arose  in  the  Church."  Forced 
to  leave  his  parish,  he  also,  applied  to  the  more  lib- 

'  Francis  Doughty,  some  time  vicar  of  Sodbury,  was  there  silenced 
for  non-conformity.  His  son-in-law,  Adrian  van  der  Donck,  wrote 
of  him  that  Mr.  Doughty  came  to  New  England  to  escape  persecu- 
tion, and  there  found  that  he  "had  got  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the 
fire."  His  chief  heresy  was  the  assertion  that  Abraham's  children 
should  have  received  the  rite  of  baptism. 


164  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

eral  Hollanders  for  a  grant  of  land.  Kieft  gave  him, 
March  28,  1642,  an  absolute  ground-brief  of  thirteen 
thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-two  acres  on  the 
Mespat,  a  grant  in  common,  on  which  to  found  a 
town.  A  few  men,  among  them  Richard  and  John 
Smith  of  Taunton,'  came  with  Mr.  Doughty,  and 
the  little  village  of  Mespat  was  begun. 

Those  who  had  thus  adventured  had  fallen  upon 
evil  days.  The  reflex  influence  of  the  disgraceful 
Pavonia  massacre  had  extended  to  Long  Island. 
The  day  after  that  merciless  onslaught,  a  petition 
had  been  presented  to  the  Director-General  asking 
permission  to  attack  the  Marekkawieck  Indians 
at  the  western  point  of  the  Island.  Kieft,  with 
unusual  forbearance,  refused,  saying  the  Long 
Island  Indians  had  always  been  the  friends  of 
the  Dutch  ;  any  attack  would  bring  on  a  general 
and  destructive  war ;  the  tribe  was  "  hard  to  con- 
quer," but,  should  the  Indians  show  any  hostility, 
all  should  defend  themselves  as  best  they  could. 
This  elastic  license  was  well  understood.  The  Indi- 
ans were  everywhere  alert,  suspicious,  and  eager  for 
vengeance.  When  their  cornfields  at  Marekkawieck 
on  the  Waale-Boght  were  plundered  by  the  people 
of  Nieuw  Amersfoordt  and  two  men  killed,  this  out- 
rage was  the  spark  to  the  powder.  The  Indians  fell 
upon  the  surrounding  country.  Mespat  was  utterly 
destroyed,  fields  laid  waste,  houses  and  cattle  burned, 

'Roger  Williams  writes  of  him:  "Mr.  Richard  Smith  who  for 
his  conscience  to  God  left  faire  possessions  in  Gloucestershire  and 
adventured  with  his  Relations  and  Estates  in  New  England  and  was 
a  most  acceptable  Inhabitant  and  prime-leading  man  in  Taunton  in 
Plymouth  Colony.  For  his  Conscience's  sake,  many  difficulties 
arising,  he  left  Plymouth,"  etc. 


THE  ME  SPAT  MASSACRE.  1 65 

one  at  least  of  its  chief  men,  John  Smith,  killed, 
while  its  fugitive  inhabitants  sought  shelter  in 
Nieuw  Amsterdam. 

Soon  after,  the  conference  already  mentioned  was 
held  in  the  woods  near  Rockaway,  where  sixteen 
sachems  assembled  to  meet  the  Dutch  envoys.  At 
daybreak,  De  Vries  and  his  companions  arrived. 
Addresses  of  simple  pathos  were  made,  emphasised 
by  laying  down  the  twigs  which  counted  the  various 
wrongs  the  Indians  had  endured.  An  exchange  of 
gifts  was  made,  and  the  chiefs  then  went  with  De 
Vries  to  Nieuw  Amsterdam.  A  nominal  peace  was 
made,  but  no  confidence  in  one  another  was  restored. 
A  desultory  warfare  continued  for  two  years,  until 
finally,  August  30,  1645,  both  Dutch  and  English, 
tired  of  exercising  constant  vigilance,  made  a  more 
decisive  peace  with  the  Indians  at  a  council  held  on 
the  green  in  front  of  Fort  Amsterdam.  The  treaty 
was  negotiated  and  confirmed  by  ambassadors  from 
the  Mohawks,  who  claimed  sovereignty  over  the 
Algonquin  tribes  of  Long  Island. 

When  the  Indians  were  quieted,  a  few  of  the 
planters  returned  to  the  ashes  of  their  homes  and 
rebuilt  their  rude  cabins.  Mr.  Doughty  held  him- 
self as  the  Patroon  of  a  Manor  and  demanded  from 
every  settler  payment  for  the  land  taken  up,  and  a 
yearly  quit-rent.  Suit  was  brought  against  him  by 
Richard  and  William  Smith  representing  the  peo- 
ple, and  was  decided  in  their  favour  in  1647.'     He 

'  Van  Tienhoven,  replying  to  this  "  Remonstrance  of  Mespat," 
says  :  "  Mr.  Smith  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  these  people,  for  the 
said  minister  had  scarcely  any  means  of  himself  to  build  a  hut,  let 
alone  to  plant  a  colonic  at  his  own  expense. " 

Mr.  Doughty  was  in  many  ways  obnoxious  to  the  people.     There 


l66  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

then  went  to  Flushing,  and  finally  ended  his  career 
in  Virginia,  while  the  Reverend  John  Moore  suc- 
ceeded him  as  preacher  in  Newtown. 

Mespat  never  rallied  from  the  calamity  of  1643. 
In  October  of  that  year,  the  Eight  Men  were  con- 
voked by  Kieft,  to  consider  the  state  of  the  Colony. 
They  addressed  to  the  Assembly  of  the  XIX.,  and  to 
the  States-General,  a  piteous  petition  for  aid  against 
"  the  cruel  heathen,"  and  added  :  "  The  English  who 
have  settled  amongst  us  have  not  escaped.  They  too, 
except  in  one  place,  are  all  murdered  and  burnt." 

The  village  languished,  and  six  years  later  the  in- 
dwellers  were  still  very  few.  The  centre  of  growth 
was  to  be  farther  down  the  stream.  In  1652,  an- 
other party  '  came  from  New  England  to  plant  a 
colony,  and  were  joined  by  Robert  Coe  and  Mr. 
Richard  Gildersleeve  of  Heemstede.  They  estab- 
lished themselves  just  east  of  Mespat,  in  distinction 
from  which  the  settlement  was  called  the  New 
Town,  although  it  was  officially  named  Middel- 
burgh,  in  fond  remembrance  of  the  capital  of  Zea- 
land where  many  of  the  English  Separatists  had 
found  a  welcome." 

They  were  given  the  civil  and  religious  rights  of 
Doughty's  Patent,  electing  their  own  Townsmen. 
In  their  hands  were  all  the  affairs   of  the  town,  save 

is  the  record  that  William  Gerretse  ' '  sings  libellous  songs  against 
the  Reverend  Francis  Doughty, "  for  which  he  is  sentenced  to  be  tied 
to  the  Maypole. 

'  Their  leader  was  Mr.  Henry  Feake,  an  early  settler  of  Lynn, 
whence  he  removed  in  1637,  to  found  Sandwich. 

'  Thither,  in  1581,  went  Robert  Browne  and  a  part  of  his  congre- 
gation when  fleeing  from  the  wrath  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Commission. 


THE  NEW  TOWN. 


167 


the  admission  of  new  inhabitants  and  the  allotment 
of  land.  These  questions,  as  of  prime  importance, 
were  brought  before  the  "  General  Court,"  a  primary- 
Assembly,  or  Folk-mote,  true  survival  of  the  greater 
Gemotes  of  the  primeval  German  forests.  Failing, 
however,  to  receive  from  Stuyvesant  a  confirmation 
of  their  patent,  they  bought  the  land  of  the  sachems 
Rowerowestco  and  Pomwaukom,  April  19,  1656. 
Every  purchaser  paid  one  shilling  an  acre,  and  the 
list  of  this  "  Indian  Rate'"  preserves  the  names  of 


'  Robert  Coe 
Richard  Gildersleeve 
John  Moore 
John  Reeder 
Thomas  Reede 
Widow  Stevens 
Samuel  Wheeler 
Ralph  Hunt 
John  Layton 
James  Herod 
Thomas  Hazard 
John  La  wren  son 
John  Burroughes 
Edward  Jessop 
John  Gray 
Hendrick  Jansen 
John  Hicks 
Joseph  Fowler 
Richard  Betts 
Robert  Puddington 
William  Herrick 
Thomas  Wandell 
Samuel  Toe 
Thomas  Reede 
Richard  Walker 


James  May 
John  Coe 
Thomas  Robinson 
Thomas  Stevenson 
Nicholas  Carter 
William  Palmer 
John  Furman 
William  Laurence 
Henry  Feake 
William  Wood 
James  Stewart 
Thomas  Paine 
Thomas  Laurence 
James  Smith 
Peter  Meacock 
Edmund  Strickland 
James  Bradish 

Colesay 

Richard  Bullock 
James  Laurenson 

Brumne 

Aaron 

Brian  Newton 
Smith's  Island 
Thomas  Reedy 
John  Hobby. 


^68.  16.  4. 


l68  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

the  first  freeholders  of  Newtown.  Scarcely  were  they 
established,  when  false  rumours  of  a  combination  of 
the  Dutch  and  Indians  so  alarmed  the  few  at  Mes- 
pat,  that  they  retreated  to  Stamford. 

There  was  also  planned,  but  with  indifferent  suc- 
cess, another  village  nearer  the  water,  to  be  called 
Arnheim,  from  the  birthplace  of  the  beloved  Fiscal- 
Schout,  Nicasius  de  Sille.  It  was,  however,  soon 
abandoned,  being  thought  to  interfere  with  the 
growth  of  Bushwick.  Within  the  Patent  was  also, 
'T  Heulicken  Eylandt,'  or  Burger  Jorissen  Eylandt, 
nearly  opposite  to  T'  Armen  Bouwerie.  This  bene- 
volent foundation — The  Poor's  Bouwerie,  and  not, 
as  mistranslation  implied,  a  poor  farm — was  owned 
by  the  Dutch  Church  in  Nieuw  Amsterdam  and 
later  given  to  the  town. 

In  1652,  the  Domine  Bogardus,  second  husband 
of  Annetje  Jans,  planted  a  tract  of  land  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mespat  Kills,  which  was  long  called  for  him, 
'T  Domine's  Hoeck.  In  1697,  it  was  bought  from 
the  heirs  of  Annetje  Jans  by  Captain  Peter  Praa," 
and  given  to  his  daughter  Annetje,  wife  of  William 
Bennet.  Thus  the  present  site  of  Long  Island  City 
gained  the  name  of  Bennet'S  Point,  until,  by  subse- 
quent change  of  owners,  it  became  the  Hunter's 
Point  of  more  recent  times. 

^  Meaning  "  Married  Island,"  being  received  by  Deacon  Jeuraien 
Fradel  from  his  wife  Tryntje,  widow  of  Hendrick  Ilarmensen,  who 
in  1638  settled  thereon. 

^  A  Huguenot,  native  of  Leyden,  who  came  to  Middelburgh  in 
1659.  In  his  will,  Captain  Praa  left  to  a  favourite  slave  a  bit  of 
high  ground  encircled  by  a  branch  of  the  Mespat.  It  was  long 
known  as  "  Jack's  Island,"  and  there  the  old  negro  reigned  as  supreme 
as  in  his  native  Guinea. 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  HASTINGS.  1 69 

When  Connecticut  received  her  charter  in  the  fall 
of  1672,  embracing  the  "  Islands  adjacent  " — word 
was  sent  to  the  English  villages  on  Long  Island  that 
they  were  annexed  to  "  the  other  side  of  the  Sound." 
The  news  was  welcomed  by  Middelburgh,  which  ap- 
pointed new  Townsmen  and  was  prepared  for  com- 
plete revolt  against  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  The  next 
year  Connecticut  assumed  the  authority  she  had 
claimed.  Captain  John  Coe  of  Middelburgh  and 
Anthony  Waters  of  Jamaica  went  through  the  Eng- 
lish Towns  proclaiming  King  Charles.  They  dis- 
placed the  old  magistrates  and  appointed  new  officers 
who  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  King.  Mid- 
delburgh then  threw  off  its  Dutch  name  and  called 
itself  Hastings. 

February  4,  1664,  the  people  signed  a  compact 
setting  forth,  in  the  following  form,  their  fealty  to 
England.  The  air  was  thick  with  the  spirit  of  revolt 
against  Holland.  Affairs  were  ripening  for  the 
coming  of  Nicoll. 

"  TO  ALL  CHRISTIAN  PEOPLE 

in  any  parte  of  the  world.  Know  that  we  the 
inhabitants  of  Hastings  otherwise  called  Middel- 
burgh on  Long  Island  in  the  South  parte  of  New 
England,  doe  declare  that  we  are  by  our  birthright 
privileges  subjects  of  his  Majesty,  King  Charles  the 
2d.  of  England,  Scotland,  France  and  Ireland  King ; 
and  within  the  discoverys  of  his  Royal  predecessours 
are  providentially  seated,  and  by  right  of  the  natives 
have  to  the  soil  an  absolute  right  of  free  socage  in 
us  and  to  our  hayres  and    assigns  forever,  which 


I70  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

right,  interest  and  propryty  with  his  Majesty's 
Royalty  of  Government  wee  promise  to  maintain 
agaynst  any  usurpers  whatsoever,  and  will  further 
and  more  particularly  doe  anything  whereby  and 
wherewith  our  dread  Sovereign  and  his  Successours 
may  be  owned  as  absolute  Emperor  in  poynt  of 
Civill  judicature  as  by  establishing  an  authority 
elected  by  the  major  parte  of  the  freehoulders  of  this 
towne  of  Hastings  aforesaid,  yearly. 

"  This  very  Island  being  bounded  within  the  let- 
ters patante  granted  by  Kinge  James  of  glorious 
memory  this  i8th  year  of  his  reigne'  to  George 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  James  Duke  of  Lennox  which 
pattante  was  bounded  40  and  48  degrees  north  latti- 
tude  within  the  said  lattitude,  we  say  our  just 
propryetys  of  soyle  being  invaded  and  his  majesty's 
rights  usurped  by  the  Hollanders  to  ye  great  scan- 
dall  of  government  and  discouragement  of  his  Ma- 
jesty's hopeful  plantation,  which  we  all  will  farther 
defend  as  Englishmen,  just  propryetours  and  Loyall 
subjects  with  our  lives  and  fortunes,  in  witness 
whereof  we  have  set  to  our  hands  this  4th  day  of 
February,  1663  O.  S." 

Their  valour  was  not  to  be  tested  ;  the  desired 
change  came  quickly,  ignominiously  to  the  victors, 
dishonourably  to  all  but  the  faithful  Stuyvesant.  In 
a  few  months  Hastings  was  indisputably  part  of  an 
English  province,  free  to  meditate  on  King  James 
of   glorious    memory    and    his    gracious    grandson. 

'  Granted  in  1620  to  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  and  others,  under 
name  of  "The  Council  of  Plymouth  in  County  of  Devon  for  Plant- 
ing and  Governing  New  England  in  America," 


"  LED  AWAY  BY  HERETICS."  171 

March  16,  1666,  a  Patent  for  the  town  was  given  by 
the  new  Government,'  and  twenty  years  later  it  was 
re-issued  by  Dongan,  three  years  after  the  town,  in 
the  organisation  of  counties,  had  been  included  in 
Queens. 

The  first  church  in  Newtown  was  an  Independent 
meeting-house  built  in  1670,  and  rebuilt  in  1715. 
Services  had  earlier  been  held  in  a  barn  by  the 
Reverend  John  Moore"  the  successor  of  Mr. 
Doughty.  On  his  death,  the  people  petitioned  the 
Director-General  and  Council  for  another  minister, 
lest  "  some  of  the  Inhabitants  be  led  away  by  the 
intrusion  of  Quakers  and  other  Heretics." 

Nieuw  Nederlandt  had  enjoyed  a  fair  degree  of 
liberty  of  conscience,  until,  in  1656,  the  Domines 
Drusus  and  Megapolensis  complained  to  Stuyvesant 
that  unfit  persons  were  holding  conventicles  and 
preaching  at  Middelburgh,  "  From  which  nothing 
could  be  expected  but  discord,  confusion  and  dis- 
order in  Church  and  State."     A  proclamation  was 

'  The  Patent  was  made  out  to 

Captain  Richard  Belts  Joris  Burger 

"        Thos.  Lawrence  John  Burroughs 

"       John  Coe  Daniel  Whitehead 

Ralph (?) 

^  Mr.  Moore  came  to  Southampton  in  1641,  and  for  a  few  years 
his  name  often  appears  on  the  Town  Books  there.  In  1646,  he  was 
a  student  at  Harvard  College.  In  1651,  he  was  at  Hempstead.  He 
died  at  Middelburg  in  1657,  leaving  four  sons.  On  their  estate 
originated  the  matchless  Newtown  Pippin  whose  delicate  flavour  car- 
ries over  the  seas  the  name  of  our  Long  Island  township.  A  writer 
in  the  Philadelphia  Evening  Post  of  October  10,  1776,  points  an 
antithesis  by  declaring  the  difference  as  great  as  "between  a  crab- 
apple  and  Newtown  pippins." 


172  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

issued  February  i,  1657,  forbiding  any  person  to 
preach  without  direct  permission  from  the  Director- 
General  and  condemning  all  teachings  which  differed 
from  the  doctrines  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  which  "  was 
not  only  lawful  but  commanded  by  God."  A  fine 
of  one  hundred  pounds  was  imposed  on  all  unli- 
censed preachers,  and  twenty-five  pounds  on  all  per- 
sons attending  their  services.  This  penal  law,  the 
first  against  freedom  of  conscience  within  the  bounds 
of  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  was  to  "  promote  the  glory  of 
God,  the  increase  of  the  Reformed  Religion  and  the 
Peace  and  Harmony  of  the  Country." 

About  this  time,  Domine  Megapolensis  addressed 
the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  on  "  the  State  of  Religion 
in  Nieuw  Nederlandt,"  saying :  "  The  people  of 
Gravesend  are  Mennonists  ;  Middelburgh  was  partly 
Independent,  with  many  Presbyterians  too  poor  to 
support  a  preacher."  At  Heemstede,  he  continues, 
was  the  Reverend  Richard  Denton,  "an  honest, 
pious,  learned  man  who  hath  in  all  things  conformed 
to  our  Church,"  and  "  to  whom  the  Independents 
did  not  object  to  listen  until  he  began  to  baptise  the 
children  of  those  not  in  the  church." 

When,  in  1693,  the  Island  was  divided  into 
ecclesiastical  districts,  Newtown,  Flushing,  and 
Jamaica  formed  one  parish,  paying  sixty  pounds, 
yearly,  for  the  support  of  a  clergynrfan  resident  at 
Jamaica. 

In  1706,  Newtown  was  the  scene  of  the  lawless 
arrest  of  Francis  Mackemie  and  John  Hampton, 
Presbyterian  preachers  travelling  from  Virginia. 
Mackemie  had  preached  in  New  York  on  Sunday,  in 


THE  FIRST  METHODIST  SOCIETY.  173 

a  private  house  on  Pearl  Street,  and  then  followed 
Hampton  to  Newtown,  where  the  latter  spoke  in  a 
"  publick  Meeting-house,"  offered  by  the  inhabitants. 
Lord  Cornbury  issued  a  warrant  to  Thomas  Cardell, 
High  Sheriff  of  Queens,  to  bring  them  to  "  Fort 
Anne  from  New-Town  on  Long  Island  where  they 
have  gone  with  intent  to  spread  their  Pernicious 
Doctrine  and  Principles  to  the  great  disturbance  of 
the  Church  established  by  Law  and  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  this  Province."  On  their  arrest  they  were 
taken  to  Jamaica  and  detained  for  a  single  day.  Of 
this  they  complain,  as  being  "  carried  about  in  Tri- 
umph, to  be  Insulted  as  Exemplary  Criminals."  ' 

But  Newtown  was  not  intimidated,  and  was  never 
slow  to  welcome  new  doctrines.  There,  in  1766, 
was  founded  at  the  Middle  Village,  as  Middelburgh 
began  to  be  called,  the  first  Methodist  Episcopal 
"  Society  "  on  Long  Island,  and,  save  the  old  John 
Street  Church,  dating  from  1764,  the  oldest  in 
America." 

Flushing,  although  in  undisputed  Dutch  territory, 
was  first  settled  in  1645  by  a  band  of  English  plant- 
ers who  had  lived  in  Holland.  They  came  hither 
from  Lynn  on  the  representation  of  the  Dutch 
agents  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  In  the  fall,  October 
19th,  a  patent  for  sixteen  thousand  acres  "  in  the 

'  See  a  curious  account  of  their  trial  in  Force's  Colonial  Tracts, 
vol.  iv.  :  "  A  Narrative  of  a  Nevir  and  Unusual  American  Imprison- 
ment of  two  Presbyterian  Ministers  and  Prosecution  of  Mr.  ffrancis 
Mackemie." 

'  The  Society  was  originated  in  her  own  house,  by  Mrs.  James 
Harper,  the  mother  of  the  founder  of  the  firm  of  Harper  &  Brothers. 


174  EARLY  LOISTG  ISLAND. 

unexplored  land  east  of  Mespat,"  was  made  out  to 
Thomas  ffarrington,  John  Lawrence,  John  Town- 
send  and  others.  They  called  their  possession 
Vlissingen,  the  name  passing  by  easy  transition  from 
that  of  the  Zealand  town,  through  Vlissing,  to 
Flushing. 

In  1647,  Farret  appeared  with  a  power  of  attorney 
from  Lady  Sterling.  He  at  once  assumed  the  title  of 
Governor  of  Long  Island,  under  the  Countess  Dow- 
ager of  Sterling.  The  Schout  of  Flushing  reported 
him  to  Stuyvesant,  and  the  next  day  Farret  went 
to  Nieuw  Amsterdam  to  compare  commissions  with 
the  Director-General.  Stuyvesant,  offended  by  his 
"  very  consequential  "  bearing,  ordered  him  arrested 
and  brought  before  the  Eight  Men.  They  refused 
to  consider  his  claim  as  having  any  foundation,  and 
put  him  on  board  the  Falconer,  bound  for  Holland. 
He  escaped  at  an  English  port,  but  never  again 
interfered  with  Long  Island. 

Under  Dutch  protection,  safe  from  Indian  assault, 
secure  in  the  tenure  of  land,  the  early  days  of  Flush- 
ing should  have  passed  more  quietly  than  had  done 
the  first  years  of  the  neighbouring  towns.  But  it  did 
not  escape  the  theological  turmoils  of  the  time. 
The  Reverend  Francis  Doughty,  that  ecclesiastical 
firebrand,  came  here  from  Newtown  in  1647,  and  was 
the  first  minister  of  the  English  population,  at  a 
salary  of  six  hundred  guilders.'  Captain  John 
Underbill,  as  acute  in  doctrine  as  valiant  on  the 

'  The  salary  was  never  paid.  When  he  began  a  suit  for  its'recovery, 
it  was  found  that  the  contract  was  destroyed,  William  Lawrence's 
wife  having  "  put  it  under  a  pye." 


PERSECUTION  OF   THE   QUAKERS.  I7S 

field,  and  as  quick  in  scenting  a  heresy  as  in  follow- 
ing an  Indian  trail,  silenced  his  preaching  as  hetero- 
dox. After  the  influx  of  Quakerism,  he  became  a 
convert  to  all  its  doctrines  but  those  of  peace,  and 
for  many  years  his  bickerings  harassed  the  com- 
munity. Stuyvesant's  proclamation  of  1656  was 
rigorously  enforced.  William  Wickenden,  "  foment- 
or  of  error,"  a  poor  cobbler  from  Rhode  Island, 
began  to  preach  and  "  to  dip  people  in  the  river." 
Meanwhile,  William  Hallet,  the  Sheriff,  had  per- 
mitted "  Conventicles  "  to  be  held  in  his  own  house. 
He  was  deposed  from  office  and  fined  fifty  pounds. 
Wickenden,  unable  to  pay  any  fine,  was  banished. 

The  next  year,  1657,  a  ship,  the  Woodhouse, 
arrived  at  Nieuw  Amsterdam,  August  6th,  among 
whose  passengers  were  several  Quakers.  Most  of 
them  went  at  once  to  Rhode  Island,  "  where  all 
kinds  of  scum  doth  dwell,"  wrote  Domine  Megapo- 
lensis  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam.  A  few  remained 
on  Long  Island.  Robert  Hodgson,  their  leader,  was 
well  received  at  Flushing,  but,  going  to  preach  at 
Hempstead,  was  arrested  by  Richard  Gildersleeve 
and  sent  to  the  dungeon  of  Fort  Amsterdam.  By 
the  report  of  the  Friends  themselves,  the  Director- 
General  was  pronounced  "  moderate  both  in  words 
and  action."  But  heresy  was  not  to  be  lightly 
passed  by.  Incurring  a  severe  sentence,  Hodgson 
was  finally  set  free,  only  by  the  intercession  of 
Dame  Annetje  Bayard. 

Henry  Townsend  had  held  meetings  at  his  house 
in  Jamaica.  He  was  ordered  to  pay  a  fine  of  eight 
pounds  Flemish,  or  to  leave  the  country  within  six 


176  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND.  . 

weeks.'  A  proclamation  followed,  imposing  a  fine 
of  fifty  pounds  for  sheltering  a  Quaker  a  single  night, 
one  half  going  to  the  informer.  Any  vessel  bring- 
ing Quakers  to  the  Province  was  to  be  confiscated. 
Flushing,  in  a  noble  "  Remonstrance,"  °  refused 
obedience.  They  based  their  protest  on  "  the  law  of 
love,  liberty  and  peace  in  the  state  extending  to 
Jews,  Turks  and  Egyptians,  as  they  are  considered 
the  sons  of  Adam  which  is  the  glory  of  our  State  of 
Holland,'  so  love,  peace  and  liberty,  extending  to 
all  in  Christ  Jesus,  condemns  hatred,  war  and 
bondage." 

This  Remonstrance  was  carried  to  Nieuw  Amster- 
dam by  Tobias  Feake,  Schout  of  Flushing.  He  was 
arrested,  together  with  Edward  Hart,  the  Town 
Clerk,  and  two  magistrates  of  the  town.  The  latter 
were  released  after  a  fortnight's  imprisonment,  and 
the  chief  vengeance  was  reserved  for  Mr.  Feake. 
He  had  lodged  some  of  the  "  heretical  and  abomina- 
ble sect  called  Quakers,"  and  had  been  active  in 
getting  signatures  to  the  "  seditious  and  detestable 
chartable  "  above  named.  For  these  grave  offences 
he  was  to  be  degraded  from  office,  and  to  be  fined 
two  hundred  guilders,  or  to  be  banished. 

"  To  prevent  in  future,  the  disorders  arising  from 

'  Disregarding  the  order,  he  was  further  fined  one  hundred  pounds. 
Still  refusing  to  close  his  doors,  he  was  imprisoned  in  Fort  Amster- 
dam, and  was  only  released  through  the  insistence  of  his  friends  who 
made  up  the  amount  of  the  fine  in  young  cattle  and  horses. 

'  December  29,  1659,  signed  by  twenty-nine  freeholders  of  Flush- 
ing, and  John  and  Henry  Townsend  of  Jamaica. 

*  Note  that  the  English  settlers  hereby  admitted  themselves  the 
subjects  of  Holland. 


' '  PREJUDICIAL  "   TO  WN  MEE  TINGS.  I  "JJ 

Town  Meetings,  as  these  are  very  prejudicial," 
they  were  henceforth  forbidden.  Stuyvesant  then 
changed  the  original  charter  of  Flushing,  restricting 
their  privileges.  A  "  Vroedscap  "  or  Board  of  seven 
of  "  the  best,  most  prudent  and  most  reputable  In- 
habitants," were  appointed  to  consult  with  the 
Schout  and  magistrates.  Whatever  they  might 
agree  upon  in  regard  to  local  affairs,  was  then  to  be 
"submitted  to  the  Inhabitants  in  general."  As 
there  had  been  for  some  time  no  "  good,  pious, 
orthodox  minister,"  they  were  ordered  to  procure 
such  a  one,  to  be  supported  by  a  tax  of  twelve 
stuyvers  on  every  morgen  of  land.  All  persons  not 
consenting  to  this  arrangement  were  desired  to  leave 
the  town. 

Finally,  the  Director-General  proclaimed  a  Fast 
on  January  29,  1658,  to  lament  over  the  "  raising 
up  and  propagating  a  new,  unheard-of,  abominable 
heresy  called  Quakers."  But,  in  spite  of  persecu- 
tions and  contumely,  perhaps  on  that  very  account, 
the  Friends  were  soon  well  established  in  Flushing. 
Hawks's  Manuscript  says  of  the  town :  "  Most  of 
the  inhabitants  are  Quakers  who  rove  through  the 
country  from  one  village  to  another,  talk  blasphemy, 
corrupting  the  young  and  do  much  mischief." 

John  Bowne  from  Matlock,  Derbyshire,  was  one 
of  the  earliest  friends  of  the  new  religionists,  and  a 
protomartyr  of  their  cause.     His  house,'  opened  to 

'  His  house,  built  in  1661,  is  still  standing  on  Bowne  Avenue, 
Flushing.  It  is  a  quaint  example  of  one  style  of  the  older  Colonial 
architecture  and  is  in  perfect  preservation.  There  lived  six  succes- 
sive John  Bownes,  the  last  one  dying  in  1804,     During  the  Revolu- 


178  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

their  meetings,  was  soon  reported  to  the  magistrates 
as  a  dangerous  Conventicle.  Mr.  Bowne  was  fined 
twenty-five  pounds,  which  he  refused  to  pay.  He 
was  then  imprisoned  at  Fort  Amsterdam  for  three 
months,  "  for  the  welfare  of  the  community,  and  to 
crush  out  as  far  as  possible  that  abominable  sect 
who  treat  with  contempt  both  the  political  magis- 
trates and  the  ministers  of  God's  holy  word."  ' 

The  sentence  further  ordered  him  to  be  trans- 
ported, should  he  "  continue  obstinate  and  pervica- 
cious,"  and  so  he  was  sent  to  Amsterdam  on  the 
Gilded  Fox.  There,  he  appealed  to  the  West  India 
Company,  who  at  once  released  him  and  rebuked  the 
over-zeal  of  Stuy  vesant.  After  two  years,  Mr.  Bowne 
returned  to  Flushing,  to  continue  the  warm  friend 
of  the  much-enduring  "  people  in  Skorne  Kalled 
Quakers."  It  was  to  his  house  that  George  Fox 
came  in  1672.  Some  of  the  old  oaks  under  which 
Fox  preached,  stood  for  more  than  two  centuries, 
eloquent  types  of  the  vitality  of  a  pure  and  simple 
faith. 

The  West  India  Company  had  already  written  to 
Stuyvesant  counselling  moderation.  They  added 
that  "  some  connivance  is  useful,  and  the  conscience 

tion,  it  was  the  Head-Quarters  of  the  Hessian  officers  stationed  in 
Flushing,  while  the  Friends'  Meeting-house,  built  in  i6gi,  with 
pyramidal  roof  and  shingled  sides,  was  used  as  a  store  house,  hospi- 
tal, and  prison. 

'  The  next  week  another  proclamation  forbade  the  exercise  of  any 
but  the  Reformed  Religion  "in  houses,  barns,  ships,  woods,  or 
fields. "  For  violation  of  the  order  was  a  fine  of  fifty  guilders  for 
the  first  offence  ;  one  hundred  for  the  second,  and  two  hundred,  with 
"  correction,"  for  the  third. 


ADVICE  OF  THE  WEST  INDIA  COMPANY.      1 79 

of  men  should  remain  free  and  unshackled.  Let 
every  one  remain  free  as  long  as  he  is  modest,  mod- 
erate, and  his  political  conduct  irreproachable,  and 
he  does  not  offend  others,  or  the  Government.  This 
maxim  of  moderation  has  always  been  the  guide  of 
our  city,  hence  people  have  flocked  from  every  land 
to  this  asylum.  Tread  thus  in  their  footsteps,  and 
we  doubt  not  you  will  be  blessed." 

But  this  policy  was  not  followed  in  the  adjoining 
towns.  Hempstead  harried  the  inoffensive  zealots 
out  of  her  domain.  Jamaica  bound  herself  to  pro- 
ceed against  them.'  The  English  Conquest  brought 
no  lenity  in  their  treatment.  The  Friends  them- 
selves, riot  long  after  that  event,  addressed  the 
Governor  and  Council  in  regard  to  that  clause  in 
the  Charter  of  Liberties  which  should  establish  free- 
dom of  conscience.  They  protested  against  their 
disfranchisement,  and  they  published  "  An  Account 
of  what  hath  been  taken  from  our  iiriends  in  New 
York  Government,"  which  is  but  one  of  many  simi- 
lar documents."    Yet,  the  Friends  increased  in  num- 

'  "Wee  whose  names  are  underwritten  doe  by  these  presents 
promise  and  engage  that  iff  any  Meetings  or  Conventicles  shall  bee 
in  this  town  off  Rustdorpe  thot  wee  know  off,  then  wee  will  give  in- 
formation to  the  aughthorities  of  the  towne  against  any  suche  person 
or  persons  called  Quakers  as  need  shdl  require.  Witness  our  hand 
this  II  day  of  ffebruary  in  the  yeare  ijpi,  Stil.  nov. 

"  Daniel  Denton,  Clerk." 
[Signed  by  fifteen  others.] 

Jamaica  Town  Book,  i.,  p.  120. 

"^  "  Taken  away  from  Henry  Willis,  the  15th  of  ye  first  Mo.  1667, 
by  Richard  Wintherne,  Const.  &  Richard  Gilderse,  Collector  for  not 
paying  toward  the  Building  of  the  Priest's  Dwelling  House  at  Hamp- 
stead,  their  Demande  being  ;£i:i4.  one  Cowe  valued  at  ;^4:io. 


l8o  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

ber  and  influence.  At  the  Yearly  Meeting  at  the 
house  of  Walter  Newberry  in  Rhode  Island  on  the 
14th  of  Fourth  Month,  1695,  their  status  was  recog- 
nised. It  was  there  "  agreeded  that  the  meetings 
on  Long  Island  shall  be  from  this  time  a  General 
Meeting  and  that  John  Bowne  and  John  Rodman 
shall  take  care  to  receive  all  such  papers  as  shall 
come  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  on  Long  Island  and 
correspond  with  Friends  appointed  in  London." 

The  Men's  Meeting  in  Flushing  has  preserved  a 
most  interesting  series  of  records  beginning  in  1703. 
They  are  a  curious  set  of  books,  a  valuable  mine  of 
data  for  sociological  study,  and  written  between  the 
lines  is  the  universal  truth  that  the  persecuted  are 
not  the  tolerant.  No  hierarchy  could  watch  more 
carefully  the  conduct  and  the  beliefs  of  its  subjects. 
Most  of  the  discipline  refers  to  the  performance  of 
military  duty  and  to  the  frequency  of  "  marrying 
out  " — outside  the  roll  of  "  the  Meeting."  For 
example:  "A.  B.  promises  to  go  no  more  to  plays, 
and  is  sorry  that  he  has  gone  from  the  truth  in 
marriage  and  by  the  assistance  of  a  hireling  priest."  ' 
There  was  no  more  grave  offence  than  the  latter. 
"  C.    D.    contrary    to    the    good   order   established 

"  Taken  from  Edward  Titus  ye  15th  1st  Mo  i68f  for  not  paying 
the  Priest's  waidges  at  Hampstead,  by  Sam'l  Emery,  Const.  & 
Francis  Chappie,  Coll.  4  young  cattle  almost  a  year  old,  and  from 
Jasper  Smith  the  l8th  day,  loth  Mo.  1686,  by  John  ffarrington,  for 
not  Traineing,  a  two  year  old  heffer,  vallued  at  £1.10." — Doc.  Hist, 
of  New  York,  vol.  iii.,  p.  1005. 

'  More  loyal  to  his  bride  was  Thomas  Cock,  who,  when  brought 
before  the  Elders  for  marrying  out,  declared  he  "  could  not  say  he 
was  sorry  without  using  falsehood  and  hypocrisy,  which  was  a  sin." 


"MARRYING  OUT."  l8l 

amongst  us  hath  fetched  a  Priest  to  marry  M.  and 
N.,  and  hath  likewise  gone  to  a  horse  race  and  hav- 
ing been  dealt  with  tenderly  by  this  Meeting  in  order 
to  bring  him  to  a  sense  of  his  misconduct  therein, 
which  proving  ineffectual,  this  Meeting  hereby  dis- 
owns the  said  C.  D." 

The  form  of  Marriage  Banns  was  adhered  to  with 
great  exactness,  and  was  well  planned  to  prevent 
inconsiderate  marriages,  or  undue  haste  therein  : 

"  At  the  Monthly  Meeting  appeared  M.,  son  of 

,  and  N.,  daughter  of  ,  and  declare  their 

intention  of  taking  each  other  in  marriage.  A.  and 
B.  are  desired  to  inquire  into  the  clearness  of  the 
man  in  Relation  to  Marriage,  and  to  Report  at  the 
next  Monthly  Meeting  at  which  it  is  expected  the 
young  friends  will  come  for  an  answer."  A  month 
later  is  a  second  announcement  to  the  patient  lovers  : 
"  M.  and  N.  appeared  the  second  time,  declaring 
themselves  still  of  the  same  mind  respecting  mar- 
riage and  nothing  appearing  to  obstruct  their  ap- 
pearing therein,  this  Meeting  leaves  them  free  to 
accomplish  the  same  according  to  the  good  order 
used  among  Friends,  and  A.  and  B.  are  appointed 
to  see  it  done  and  to  report  to  the  next  Monthly 
Meeting."  At  that  time,  it  is  entered  on  the  minutes, 
that  "  A.  and  B.  reports  that  the  marriage  of  M.  and 
N.  is  accomplished  according  to  the  good  order  of  the 
truth." 

The  levies  for  the  French  and  Indian  Wars  made 
their  demands  upon  the  Friends,  as  well  as  on  the 
"  world's  people."  In  17S9,  "  It  was  reported  at  this 
Meeting  that  Benjamin  Thome  has  hired  a  man  to 


1 82  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

go  in  the  Army  to  War  in  his  Son's  Stead,  also,  that 
John  Rodman  has  hired  a  man  to  go  in  his  Rum." 
A  few  months  later,  "  It  appears  to  this  meeting,  by 
the  persons  appointed  to  speak  to  Benjamin  Thorne, 
as  also  his  owne  mouth  that  hee  still  continews  vn- 
willing  to  condemn  his  Miss  conduct  in  Hireing  a 
man  to  goe  to  War  in  his  Sftn's  Stead,  or  to  give 
Friends  Satisfaction  for  the  Same,  it  is  the  Judg- 
ment of  the  Meeting  that  wee  can  have  no  younity 
with  such  Practices,  nor  with  him  vntill  hee  both 
condemn  and  leave  the  same."  The  report  in  regard 
to  John  Rodman  gives  his  answer  that  his  "  hireing 
A  Man  in  his  Roome  for  the  Expedition  was  not 
unadvised,  but  the  result  of  Mature  consideration  and 
if  the  like  occasion  offered,  he  should  doe  it  againe." 

Offending  members  were  dealt  with  gently,  if  per- 
sistently, and  usually  accepted  the  discipline  in  the 
spirit  in  which  it  was  given,  but  if  the  offender  was 
not  soon  amenable  to  kind  remonstrance,  his  name 
was  dropped  from  the  roll  of  the  meeting.  These 
old  records  give,  in  1765,  the  confession  of  one  who 
had  "  For  some  time  past,  contrary  to  Friends'  prin- 
ciples been  concerned  in  the  Importation  of  Negroes 
from  Africa  which  has  caused  some  uneasiness  of 
mind.  I  think  I  can  now  say,"  he  continues,  "  I  am 
sorry  I  have  ever  had  any  concern  in  that  trade  and 
hope  I  shall  hereafter  conduct  myself  more  agreeable 
to  Friends'  principles." 

Another  member  is  disciplined  for  "  Drinking, 
gaiming,  and  giving  of  money  to  support  the  Warre. 
Much  labour  of  love  hath  been  spent  with  him 
which  proveth   ineffectual   and  as  Friends   cannot 


DISCIPLINE   OF   THE  MEETING.  1 83 

have  unity  with  such  practises,  nor,  with  him  un- 
til he  condemns  them,  therefore  it  is  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Meeting  that  hee  should  be  disowned." 

Notwithstanding  their  efforts  to  maintain  a  serious 
walk  in  life,  the  prejudice  against  the  Friends  held 
them  responsible  for  many  disorders  in  conduct  and 
in  doctrine.  Even  unusual  natural  phenomena  were 
sometimes  attributed  to  their  malign  influence,'  so 
hard  was  it  then  not  to  invent  an  unnatural  sequence 
of  cause  and  effect. 

When,  in  1660,  a  dozen  newly  arrived  Frenchmen 
settled  Bushwick,  a  few  others  of  the  party  went  to 
Flushing.  There  they  began  the  careful  horticul-  1 
ture  for  which  the  old  town  has  ever  since  been 
famous.  As  the  chivalric  Champlain,  a  generation 
earlier,  amid  strife  of  Huron  and  Algonquin,  amid 
selfish  traders  and  over-zealous  priests,  sought  dis-, 
traction  in  his  garden,  and  planted  roses  on  the  nar- 
row strand  beneath  the  grim  rock  of  Quebec,  so 
these  grave  Huguenots,  in  every  stress  of  fortune, 
preserved  their  love  of  Mother  Earth.  Their  names 
are  forgotten,  their  rigid  creed  is  superseded,  little 
impress  is  left  by  them  on  civil  records  or  political 
thought ;  no  Gallic  influence  can  be  traced  in  the 

'  In  the  Mather  Papers  is  preserved  a  letter  to  Increase  Mather 
from  the  Reverend  Edward  Taylor,  written  January  5,  1683  ;  "  At 
ffarmington  was  seen  by  six  or  seven  men  about  10  o'clocke  at-night, 
a  black  Streake  in  the  Skie  like  a  Rainbow  passing  from  S.  W.  to  N. 
E.  and  continued  about  3  hours  and  then  disappeared.  While  about 
this  time  it  was  credibly  reported  with  vs  that  the  Quakers  upon 
Long  Island  upon  the  Lord's  day  were  to  have  a  horse-race,  and 
being  met  together,  the  Riders  mounted  for  the  Race  were  dis- 
mounted again  by  the  All  Righteous  Act  of  an  angry  oilended  Jus- 
tice striking  them  with  torturing  paines  whereof  they  both  dyed." 


1 84  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

life  or  manners  of  Flushing ;  their  only  sweet  memo- 
rial is  in  the  Lady  Apple,  the  Belle  Pear,  and  the 
Pom  me  Royale  or  Spice  Apple  of  the  older  New 
York  homesteads. 

This  impulse,  early  given,  was  not  lost.  Prince's 
Nurseries  were  laid  out  in  1737.'  A  Linnaean  Botani- 
cal Garden "  was  founded  and  many  European  trees 
imported.  The  early  advertisements  of  the  Nursery 
show  its  range :  apple,  plum,  peach,  nectarine,  apri- 
cot, cherry,  and  pear-trees  are  offered  for  sale,  as 
also, 

"  Carolina  Magnolia  Flower  trees. 

Catalpas. 

Barcelona  filbert-trees 

Lisbon  and  Madairia  Grape-vines." 

From  Flushing,  horticultural  skill  spread  widely. 
In  1767,  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agricul- 
ture gave  a  premium  of  ten  pounds  to  Thomas 
Youngs,  of  Oyster  Bay,  for  a  nursery  of  over  twenty- 
seven  thousand  grafted  apple-trees.  The  extent  of 
the  Flushing  nurseries  may  be  judged  when  one 
reads  that  during  the  Revolution  thirty  thousand 
young  grafted  cherry-trees  were  cut  for  hoop-poles. 
This  vandalism  was  despite  the  fact  that  General 
Howe,  in  entering  the  town  after  the  Battle  of 
Brooklyn,  placed  a  special  guard  to  "protect  the 
Gardens  and  Nurseries  of  Mr.  Prince." 

Flushing  was  then  famous  for  its  luxuriant  wheat- 

'  By  Thomas  Prince,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Governor  Thomas 
Prence,  of  Plymouth  Colony. 

*  As  late  as  1823,  the  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Linnaeus  was 
there  celebrated,  May  24th,  and  an  eloquent  address  made  by  Dr. 
Samuel  Latham  Mitchell, 


FRUIT-CULTURE  IN  FLUSHING.  1 85 

fields.  During  the  war  they  suffered  greatly  from 
a  new  insect  enemy,'  the  Cecidomyia  destructor, 
named,  in  apt  analogy,  the  Hessian  fly.  The  experi- 
ments of  the  millers  Burling,  on  southern  grains, 
finally  discovered  a  variety  of  which  the  stock  was 
hard  enough  to  resist  the  fly. 

Flushing  may  proudly  recall  the  residence  of  one 
of  the  earliest  and  most  philosophically  scientific 
men  in  America.  About  1720,  a  young  Scotchman 
who  had  practised  medicine  in  Philadelphia,  came  to 
New  York.  Cadwallader  Colden  then  began  a  career 
as  statesman,  as  eminent  as  the  position  to  which 
his  attainments  in  Botany  and  Physics  entitled  the 
friend  of  Linnaeus.  He  held  in  succession  various 
high  colonial  offices.  During  the  fifteen  years  of 
his  service  as  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Province 
of  New  York,  he  lived  chiefly  on  his  estate  of  Spring 
Hill,  in  Flushing,  bought  in  1762.  This  beautiful 
spot  was  his  home,  except  for  a  brief  retirement  to 
his  farm  of  Coldenham,  near  Newburgh,  whence  he 
returned  in  his  eighty-eighth  year  to  die  at  Spring 
Hill,  in  September,  1776. 

He  was  the  honoured  correspondent  of  Linnseus 
and  Kalm,  of  Collinson  and  Gronovius.  On  present- 
ing to  Linnaeus  his  monograph  on  the  plants  of 
Orange  County,'  the  genus  Coldenia  was  named  in 

'  "  Wheat  they  grow  none,  as  it  is  always  spoiled  by  a  mildew. 
They  tell  me  they  used  to  have  good  wheat,  hut  since  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war  they  can  get  none ;  for  this  malady,  many  of  the 
people  are  superstitious  enough  to  believe  was  brought  into  the  country 
by  the  English  Army." — Varlo's  Tour  in  America,  1784. 

'  Planta  Coldenhamce  in  Promncia  Nova  Eborancensis  spontance 
crescentis  qua  ad  Methodium  Linnai  Sexualem,  1743.  Two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-seven  plants  are  therein  classified  and  described. 


1 86  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

his  honour.  He  wrote  various  treatises  on  Mathe- 
matics and  Physics,'  and  was  author  of  a  History  of 
the  Five  Indian  Nations,  published  by  Bradford, 
the  first  local  history  printed  in  New  York.  In 
public  and  private  life  he  was  equally  beloved. 
"  Worthy  Old  Silver-locks  "  was  his  familiar  name. 
He  pursued  an  even  course  through  the  last  dis- 
tracted years  of  his  life,  and  his  timely  death  spared 
him  the  manifestation  of  the  ingratitude  ignomini- 
ously  shown  his  sons. 

De  Vries,  in  the  Journal  of  his  third  voyage,  re- 
lates that  on  June  4,  1639,  he  anchored  "  in  the  east- 
ern haven,  a  commodious  haven  on  the  north  of  Long 
Island.  This  haven  is  in  the  Island  upward  of  two 
miles  wide.  We  found  fine  oysters  there,  from  which 
the  Dutch  call  it  Oyster  Bay."  Two  years  later,  van 
Tienhoven  writes  that  "  Oyster  Bay,  so  called  from 
the  abundance  of  fine  and  delicate  oysters  which  are 
found  there,  is  a  short  league  across  at  the  mouth, 
deep  and  navigable,  without  either  rocks  or  sands  ;  it 
runs  inland  nearly  west  and  divides  itself  into  two 
rivers,  which  are  broad  and  clear,  on  which  lie  some 
fine  maize  lands.  This  land  is  situate  on  such  a 
beautiful  bay  and  river  that  it  could  at  little  cost  be 
converted  into  good  farms  for  the  plough.  There 
are  also  some  fine  hay-valleys." 

The  first  land  bought  by  the  English  in  Oyster 

'  Among  them  were  An  Introduction  to  the  Doctrine  of  Fliixions, 
or  The  Arithmetic  of  Infinities,  1743  ;  Explication  of  the  First  Causes 
in  Matter,  1745  ;  Principles  of  Action  in  Matter,  1752  ;  and  Gravi- 
tation of  Bodies  Explained  from  these  Principles.  He  asserted  Light 
to  be  the  cause  of  Gravitation,  and  was  confident  of  the  final  accept- 
ance of  his  hypothesis. 


A  LAND  GRANT.  1 87 

Bay  was  in  the  summer  of  1639,  by  one  Matthew 
Sinderland,  seaman,  of  Boston,  and  James  Farrett, 
Gentleman,  in  behalf  of  the  Earl  of  Sterling.  The 
transaction  was  probably  never  completed,  but  the 
document  remains  a  quaint  memorial  of  the  times: 
"  Know  all  men  whom  this  p'snt  writeing  may  con- 
cearn,  that  I,  James  ffarret  Gent.  Deputy  to  the 
Right  Honourable,  the  Earle  of  Starelinge,  doe  by 
these  p'snts  in  the  name  and  behalfe  of  the  saide 
Earle  and  in  my  own  name  as  his  deputy  as  it  doth 
or  may  in  any  way  concerne  myselfe,  give  and 
graunt  free  liberty  unto  Matthew  Sinderland,  sea- 
man at  Boston  in  New  England,  to  possesse  and 
ymprove  and  enjoy  two  little  necks  of  land  the 
one  upon  the  east  side  of  Oyster  Bay  Harbour, 
w'ch  two  necks  and  every  part  of  them  and  all 
belonging  thereunto,  or,  that  the  aforesaid  two 
necks  may  afford,  to  remaine  to  the  said  Matthew 
Sunderland  his  hieres  and  assigns,  for  now  and  ever 
with  full  power  to  the  said  Matthew  to  dispose 
thereof  at  his  own  pleasure. 

"  But  foreasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased  our  Royall 
King  to  grant  a  Patente  of  Long  Island  to  the  said 
Earle  of  Sterling  in  consideration  whereof  it  is 
agreed  upon  that  the  said  Matthew  Sinderland 
should  pay,  or  cause  to  be  paid  yearly  to  the  saide 
Earle  or  his  Deputy  tenn  shillings  lawful  money  of 
England,  and  the  first  payment  to  bee  and  beginn 
upon  Lady  Day  next  ensuinge  in  the  year  of  God, 
1640,  yeares  so  to  continue.  And  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  the  said  Matthew  to  compound  and  agree  with 
the  Indians  that  now  have  the  possession  of  the 


1 88  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

said  necks  for  their  consent  and  goodwill.  In  wit- 
ness whereof  I  have  sett  my  hand  and  seale  this  day 
beinge  the  i8th  of  June,  1639. 

"  James  ffarrett." 

The  excellence  of  the  harbour  at  Oyster  Bay  made 
the  bordering  region  long  a  disputed  ground.  The 
Commission'  to  adjust  the  Hartford  Treaty,  Sep- 
tember 29,  1650,  gave  to  the  English,  all  land  east 
of  the  west  side  of  Oyster  Bay  ;  to  the  Dutch,  all  to 
the  westward.  The  Dutch  immediately  settled  at 
their  extreme  limits,  but  the  "  westernmost  part  of 
Oyster  Bay  "  was  too  vague  to  be  decisive.  It  gave 
Stuyvesant  grounds  for  rejecting  the  work  of  the 
Commission,  and  the  English  still  claimed  as  far 
west  as  Hempstead  Harbour.  He  finally  wrote  to 
the  Directors  in  Holland,  July  23,  1659,  as  follows: 
"  The  only  question  is  about  the  location  of  Oyster 
Bay.  The  oldest  inhabitants  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt 
place  it  two  and  a  half  leagues  farther  east  than  the 
oldest  residents  of  New  England.  The  land  com- 
prised in  these  two  and  a  half  leagues  is  of  a  very 
poor  and  sterile  nature,  but  the  location  of  the  Bay 
is  of  greater  consequence  for  if  it  remains  in  the  pos- 
session of  and  is  settled  by  the  English,  it  will  be  an 
open  door  for  all  smugglers.  To  prevent  this  it  is 
necessary  to  build  a  fort  or  Blockhouse."  This  was 
ordered  done  by  the  Directors,  but  there  were  con- 
tinued delays,  and  much  ineffectual  correspondence 

'  The  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England, 
were  Simon  Bradstreet  and  Thomas  Prence  ;  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt, 
Thomas  Willet  and  George  Baxter. 


ENGLISH  SETTLEMENT.  1 89 

between  Stuyvesant  and  the  Honourable  Board  in 
Amsterdam. 

The  first  attempt  at  English  settlement  had  been 
already  made  on  the  site  of  the  present  village  of 
Oyster  Bay,  in  the  spring  of  1640.  Thither  came 
Captain  Edward  Tomlyns,  a  man  of  distinction  in 
Lynn,  his  brother,  Timothy  Tomlyns,  and  a  few 
others.  No  consent  had  been  asked,  either  of  the 
Dutch,  or  of  Lord  Sterling's  deputy  who  addressed 
to  Winthrop  a  vigorous  protest  against  their  action. 
The  Dutch,  nearer  at  hand,  at  once  resented  the 
intrusion  and  harried  them  from  the  land.  For 
some  years  later  there  was  no  organised  effort  at 
English  colonisation. 

The  first  actual  transfer  of  land  in  the  township 
of  Oyster  Bay  was  by  an  Indian  deed,'  given,  in 
1653,  to  Peter  Wright,  Samuel  Mayo,  and  William 
Leveredge,"  with  whom  were  soon  associated  Wil- 
liam Washburne  and  his  son  John.  In  view  of  the 
expected  settlement,  the  Council  of  Nieuw  Amster- 
dam sent  to  the  General  Court  of  Hartford  a  pro- 
test against  this  violation  of  the  Treaty  of  1650. 
No  attention  was  paid  to  the  remonstrance,  and  the 

'  In  this  Indian  deed,  Centre  Island  was  reserved  by  the  native 
owners,  but  it  was  soon  after  bought  by  a  company  of  New  York 
merchants,  Govert  Lockermann  and  others,  who,  in  1665,  transferred 
it  to  the  town  of  Oyster  Bay. 

"  In  1633,  one  of  Winthrop's  letters  mentions  the  coming  of  "  Mr. 
Leveridge,  a  godly  minister,  to  Pascataquak, "  He  joined  the 
Church  at  Salem,  August  9,  1635.  Hubbard,  who  calls  him  "an 
able,  an  worthie  minister,"  says,  that  "for  want  of  encouragement 
at  Wiggins'  Plantation  of  Dover,  he  moved  more  southward  toward 
Plymouth,  or  Long  Island."  He  had  already  been  at  Sandwich  as 
an  Indian  teacher. 


1 90  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Dutch  concluded  the  point  was  not  worth  fighting 
about. 

Of  the  original  proprietors,  Mr.  Wright  was  the 
only  one  who  then  settled  there.  Others  soon  fol- 
lowed, and  of  these  few  settlers,  all  were  determined 
to  be  subjects  of  England  rather  than  of  Holland. 
In  May,  1660,  they  made  a  declaration  of  loyalty  to 
Charles  II.  and  of  their  wish  to  be  under  English 
rule.  Affairs  were  in  a  critical  state.  In  the  Town 
Meeting  which  had  already  developed  its  function  as 
a  primary  source  of  power,  it  was  resolved  December 
13,  1660,  that  "  No  person  should  intermeddle  to 
put  the  Town  under  English  or  Dutch  until  all  dif- 
ferences were  ended,"  under  penalty  of  fifty  pounds. 
Early  in  1662,  the  people  assert  their  allegiance  to 
England  and  their  determination  to  resist  any  other 
authority.  The  Town  then  formed  a  closer  alliance 
with  New  Haven,  and  to  some  extent  acknowledged 
its  jurisdiction.' 

The  boundary  disputes  at  Oyster  Bay  were  not 
only  between  the  English  and  Dutch,  but  existed  in 
lesser  degree  between  themselves  and  the  adjoining 
townships.  In  1669,  the  Town  Clerk,  Thomas  Har- 
vey, addresses  his  "  Friends  and  Neighbours  of  the 
Town  of  Huntington,"  saying:  "We  once  more  de- 
sire you  in  a  loveing  and  friendly  way  to  forbear 
mowing  of  our  neck  of  meadow  which  ye  have  pre- 
sumptiously mowed  these  many  years,  and,  if  after 
'  "  In  1654,  some  debateable  ground  at  Oyster  Bay  was  bought 
from  the  Indians  by  Wright,  Mayo  and  others  from  Sandwich,  Mass., 
who  applied  to  be  received  into  the  jurisdiction  of  New  Haven."  In 
1657,  men  from  both  Oyster  Bay  and  Hempstead  sat  as  jurors  at 
New  Haven. 


PURCHASE  OF  LLOYD'S  NECK.  191 

SO  many  friendly  warnings,  ye  will  not  forbear,  ye 
will  force  us  to  seek  our  remedy  in  Law." 

The  Neck  in  question  is  Caumsett,  or  Lloyd's 
Neck,  geographically  a  part  of  Suffolk  County,  to 
which  it  has  been  very  lately  annexed.  Bought  of 
the  Indians  in  1654,  for  three  coats,  three  shirts,  two 
pairs  of  hose  and  of  shoes,  three  hatchets,  three  cut- 
toes,  six  knives,  and  two  fathoms  of  wampum,  it  was 
sold  in  1659  for  one  hundred  pounds,  and  eight 
years  later  for  four  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  In 
1679,  James  Lloyd,  a  rich  merchant  of  Boston,  be- 
came its  sole  owner  in  right  of  his  wife.  Grizzle  Syl- 
vester.' Governor  Dongan,  in  1685,  erected  the 
estate  into  the  Manor  of  Queen's  Village,  the  only 
manorial  domain  in  the  county,  A  quit-rent  of 
four  bushels  of  "  good  winter  wheate  "  was  to  be 
paid  on  Lady-Day.  It  was  joined  to  Queens 
County  in  1691,  but  the  disputes  over  the  boundary 
line  separating  it  from  Huntington  still  continued, 
until,  in  1734,  they  were  finally  settled  by  a  board  of 
arbitrators  in  favour  of  Oyster  Bay. 

In  1663,  the  Indians  of  Martinecock  sold  to  Cap- 
tain John  Underbill  his  estate  of  Kenilworth  on 
which  he  lies  buried,  and  which  is  still  held  by  his 
direct    descendants.     His    grave,  beneath    gnarled 

'  In  1668,  Lattimer  Sampson  of  Oyster  Bay,  intending  to  "  travel 
to  Barbados,"  then  a  half-way  port  between  New  York  and  London, 
and  "well  knowing  the  casualty  of  man's  life  and  the  certainty  of 
death,"  made  his  will,  bequeathing  his  entire  estate,  real  and  per- 
sonal, to  his  betrothed,  Grizzle  Sylvester  of  Shelter  Island.  The 
premonition  was  a  true  warning.  Mr.  Sampson  died  on  his  voyage, 
and  Grizzle  Sylvester,  thus  the  owner  of  Caumsett,  afterward  married 
Mr.  Lloyd. 


192  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

cedars,  is  on  a  lofty  point  overlooking  the  blue 
Sound,  fit  resting-place  for  him  whose  strong  char- 
acter had  dominated  the  land  in  which  he  chose  his 
home. 

John  Underhill,  well  called  the  "  most  dramatic 
person  in  our  early  history,"  is  everywhere  promi- 
nent in  the  first  quarter  century  of  Long  Island 
colonisation.  Of  an  old  Warwickshire  family,  his 
father.  Sir  John  Underhill,  is  said  to  have  been  the 
owner  of  the  New  Place  at  Stratford,  previous  to  its 
purchase  by  Shakespeare.  Coming  to  Massachusetts 
as  early  as  1630,  he  was  the  Miles  Standish  of  the 
Bay  Colony.  At  the  second  meeting  of  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Assistants  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  Sep- 
tember 7,  1630,  they  provide  for  the  yearly  support 
of  Captain  John  Underhill  and  Captain  Daniel  Pat- 
rick, military  instructors  of  the  Colony.  This  was 
done  for  seven  years.  Boston  gave  him  a  pension 
of  thirty  pounds  for  his  services  against  the  Indians. 
He  was  sent  to  command  the  new  fort  at  Saybrook, 
and  was  with  Mason  in  the  destruction  of  the  Indian 
camp  on  the  Mystic. 

He  was  the  personal  and  political  friend  of  the 
young  Vane,  whom  he  followed  to  England  in  1638. 
While  there,  he  published  his  Nevves  from  America, 
a  New  and  Experimental  Discoverie  of  New  England: 
containing  a  true  Relation  of  warlike  proceedings  there, 
these  two  years  past,  with  a  figure  of  an  Indian  pali- 
sado :  by  John  Underhill,  Commander  of  the  Warres 
there.     London,  printed  i6j8. 

Before  leaving  Boston,  Captain  Underhill  had 
fallen   under    suspicion    as    an  adherent   of    Anne 


JOHN   UNDERHILL.  1 93 

Hutchinson  and  had  been  disfranchised  for  protesting 
against  the  condemnation  of  her  brother-in-law,  Mr. 
Wheelwright,  and  was  denounced  as  "  one  of  the 
most  forward  of  the  Boston  Enthusiasts."  But  on 
his  return  to  America,  he  was,  in  1641,  made  Gov- 
ernor of  Exeter  and  Dover.  His  term  of  ofifice  was 
shortened  by  new  difficulties  with  the  church,  both 
there  and  in  Boston,  where  he  had  already  sat  upon 
the  Stool  of  Repentance,  and,  in  the  white  sheet  of 
the  penitent,  had  bewailed  his  sins.  But  he  was 
finally  excommunicated  and  came  to  Nieuw  Amster- 
dam confident  of  finding  a  more  liberal  government. 
In  1643,  he  was  in  the  Dutch  service  as  Captain  Jan 
van  der  Hyl,  in  command  of  the  force  sent  out 
against  the  Indians  of  Connecticut  and  Westchester 
County,  as  well  as  on  Long  Island.  But  the  alle- 
giance of  this  free  lance  was  lightly  held.  When,  later, 
the  United  Colonies  refused  to  take  part  in  the  war 
between  England  and  Holland,  he  offered  his  sword 
to  Rhode  Island,  and  was  given  a  commission  "  to 
go  against  the  Dutch,  or  any  enemy  of  the  Com- 
monwealth of  England." 

Underbill  was  active  in  fomenting  the  discords 
which  led  to  Nicoll's  easy  victory  over  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt.  He  was  a  member  of  the  famous  Hempstead 
Convention  of  1665,  and  was  there  appointed  High 
Sheriff  of  the  North  Riding  of  the  newly  erected 
Yorkshire.  Later,  he  was  Surveyour-General  of  the 
Island,  and  throughout  his  life  was  influential  in  all 
its  affairs. 

A  httle  west  of  the  village  of  Oyster  Bay,  on  the 
Townsend  land,  is  an  old  burial-ground,  then  in  the 


194  EARLV  LONG  ISLAND. 

heart  of  the  forest.  There  still  remains  a  great 
granite  bowlder  from  which  George  Fox  preached " 
in  May,  1672,  giving  new  zeal  to  his  sorely  beset 
adherents. 

Although  not  on  official  record,  it  is  an  established 
fact,  that  on  May  24,  1668,  the  sachems,  Werough 
and  Suscanemon  of  the  Martinecock  tribe  deeded 
to  Joseph  Carpenter,  of  the  Providence  Plantations, 
lands  "  on  both  sydes  of  Muscete  Coufe."  Joseph 
Carpenter  had  made  application  to  Governor  Nicoll 
for  such  a  grant  six  weeks  before,  in  order  "  to  set- 
tle two  or  three  plantacions  and  erect  a  Saw-Mill 
and  a  Fulling  Mill  which  may  prove  very  advanta- 
gious  and  be  much  to  the  welfare  of  the  Inhabitants 
in  General  within  this  Government."  Soon  after, 
Joseph  Carpenter  admitted  as  "  co-partners  and 
equal  purchasers,"  Nathaniel  CoUes  (Coles),  Abiah 
Carpenter,  Thomas  Townsend,  and  Robbard  Colles, 
under  terms  which  are  preserved  in  "  The  Musketa 
Cove  Record,"  written  by  Thomas  Townsend.  This 
most  valuable  old  manuscript  is  entitled : 

"  A  true  Record  of  Entryes  for  ye  purchasers  and 
proprietours  of  Muscheda  Cove.  By  Agreement 
bearing  date  ye  30th  of  November,  1668." 

'  George  Fox  writes  in  his  Journal  of  travelling  from  New  Jersey 
to  Oyster  Bay,  by  way  of  Gravesend  and  Flushing  ;  "The  Half- 
Year's  Meeting  began  next  day  which  was  the  first  day  of  the  week 
and  lasted  four  days.  Here  we  met  with  some  bad  spirits  who  had  run 
out  from  truth  into  prejudice,  contention  and  opposition  to  the  order 
of  truth  and  to  Friends  therein."  A  meeting  was  called  to  reason 
with  these  backsliders,  "where  the  Lord's  power  broke  gloriously 
forth  to  the  confounding  of  the  gainsayers  .  .  .  which  was  of 
great  service  to  truth  and  great  comfort  and  satisfaction  to  Friends." 


FREELOVE   TOWNSEND'S  DOWER.  19S 

Joseph  Carpenter  then  built '  a  grist-mill  and  a 
dwelling-house  on  a  spot  long  called  The  Place,  the 
centre  of  the  village  of  Glen  Cove." 

The  township  of  Oyster  Bay  extends  from  the 
Sound  to  the  Atlantic  but  the  South  Side  was  not 
settled  until  nearly  a  generation  later.  In  1693,  the 
Massapequa  Indians  sold  Fort  Neck,  and  the  sur- 
rounding country,  six  thousand  acres,  to  Thomas 
Townsend  for  ;^I5  currency.  Mr.  Townsend  made 
it  a  wedding-gift  to  his  daughter  Freelove,  at  her 
marriage  to  Major  Thomas  Jones,  hero  of  the  Boyne, 
commissioned  buccaneer,  later.  High  Sheriff  of 
Queens,  Ranger-General  of  the  Island  of  Nassau. 
In  1697,  Major  Jones  built  upon  Fort  Neck,  "  a 
faire  brick  mansion,"  which  stood  until  1837,  the 
American  "  Stamm-Schloss "  of  the  Long  Island 
family  of  Jones.' 

A  little  later,  Dutch  families  from  Kings  and 
western  Queens  began  to  move  into  Oyster  Bay,  and 

'  See  the  Historical  Address  given  by  Mr.  George  W.  Cocks  on  the 
two  hundred  and  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  Glen  Cove,  celebrated 
May  24,  1893. 

^  The  naine  Musquito  Cove  was  legally  retained  until  1834, 
although  Pembroke  had  been  more  or  less  in  use  for  over  fifty  years. 
At  the  meeting  to  consider  the  adoption  of  a  new  name,  Pembroke, 
Circassia,  and  Glencoe  were  the  most  favoured  of  the  names  proposed. 
The  latter  was  misunderstood  as  Glen  Cove  and  accepted  by  accla- 
mation. 

'  It  was  long  known  as  "The  Pirate's  House,'' and  was  reputed 
to  be  haunted.  Tradition  says  that  as  Major  Jones,  the  whilom 
'■  pirate,"  lay  on  his  death-bed,  a  great  black  bird  hovered  above. 
As  the  breath  ceased,  the  bird  made  its  exit  through  the  western  wall 
of.  the  house.  All  efforts  to  close  the  hole  were  unavailing,  it  being 
always  reopened  at  night  by  some  mysterious  power. 

Major  Jones  of  Welsh  descent,  but  born  in  Strabane,  Ireland,  was 


196  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

settle  at  Cedar  Swamp,  Wolver  Hollow,  Norwich, 
and  East  Wood."  Once  in  six  weeks  they  drove 
twenty  miles  across  The  Plains  to  the  Dutch 
Church  at  Jamaica.  In  1732,  they  formed  a  distinct 
"  Kerch-buurte,"  and  built  their  own  meeting-house 
in  a  grove  of  hickory  trees  at  Wolver's  Hollow.  In 
this  church,  which  stood  just  one  hundred  years,  the 
men's  sittings  were  rented  at  twenty-five  shillings 
the  year,  while  the  women  sat  in  chairs  brought 
from  their  homes. 

Jericho  was  part  of  the  purchase  made  in  1650,  by 
Robert  Williams,  a  near  kinsman  of  the  founder  of 
the  Providence  Plantations.  Many  friends  settled 
there,  and  a  Meeting-house  was  built  in  1689.  The 
hamlet  was  the  home  of  Elias  Hicks,  after  his  mar- 
riage in  1771  to  Jemima  Seaman.  But  this  zealous 
propagandist,  a  man  of  great  natural  ability,  had  but 
brief  and  interrupted  domestic  life.  He  travelled 
on  foot  over  ten  thousand  miles,  preaching  con- 
stantly, and  writing  much  on  all  philanthropic  meas- 
ures, especially  denouncing  the  evils  of  war  and  of 
negro  slavery. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Long 
Island  had  a  large  trade  with  the  West  Indies.  A 
tax  of  ten  per  cent,  was  laid  on  all  imports,  greatly 

buried  on  his  plantation.  His  stone  bears  an  epitaph  written  by 
himself : 

"From  distant  lands  to  this  wild  waste  he  came, 
This  spot  he  chose  and  here  he  fixed  his  name. 
Long  may  his  sons  this  peaceful  spot  enjoy 
And  no  ill  fate  their  offspring  e'er  annoy." 
'  Now  Syosset.     Syosset  was  the  name  of  the  Indian  town  on  the 
site  of  Oyster  Bay  Village. 


JAMAICA.  197 

to  the  indignation  of  the  people.  Their  remonstrance 
resulted  in  a  compromise  by  which  Oyster  Bay 
offered  to  pay  £-2'i,  sterling  as  its  share  of  the  excise 
duty.  Smuggling  had  long  been  carried  on  to  such 
an  extent,  that  as  the  practice  of  honest  men  it  had 
become  almost  legitimatised.  The  many  harbours 
and  inlets  of  the  Long  Island  shore  gave  excellent 
facilities  for  contraband  trade.  Custom-houses  were 
established  at  Setauket  and  at  Oyster  Bay,  but,  in 
1699,  it  was  estimated  that  one  third  of  all  the  goods 
imported  by  New  York  were  "run  into  Southold, 
Setauket,  Oyster  Bay  and  Musquito  Cove."  Some 
years  earlier,  Dongan  had  written  to  England,  that 
"  Unless  Connecticut  be  annexed,  it  will  be  impossi- 
ble to  make  anything  of  his  Majesty's  Customs  on 
Long  Island,  since  they  carry  away  without  enter- 
ing, all  our  oils  which  is  the  greatest  part  of  what 
we  have  to  make  returns  of  from  this  place." 

Hempstead  grew  apace,  and  the  Great  Plains  did 
not  give  sufficient  scope  for  the  activities  of  its  set- 
tlers. In  1656,  Robert  Jackson  and  others  who 
"  wished  a  place  to  improve  their  labours,"  applied 
to  the  Director-General  and  Council '  for  permission 
to  begin  a  new  plantation  half-way  between  Hemp- 
stead and  Canarsie.     The  grant  was  given  March  21, 

'  Robert  Jackson,  Daniel  Denton,  and  others  petition  the  Council 
the  third  time  for  "  a  place  to  improve  our  labours  upon,  for  some  of 
us  are  destitute  of  either  habitation  or  possession  ;  others  though 
Inhabitants  finde  they  cannot  comfortably  subsiste  by  their  Labours 
and  Indeavours.  By  which  means  they  are  Necessitated  to  Loolce 
out  for  a  place  where  they  may  hope  with  God's  blessing  upon  theyr 
Labours  more  comfortably  to  Subsist. — New  York  Colonial  Docu- 
ments, vol.  xiv.,  p.  339, 


1 98  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

165I,  and  the  settlement  was  known  as  "ye  new 
Plantation  near  ye  bever  pond,  commonly  called 
Jemaco."  Stuyvesant's  Patent  was  given  under  the 
name  of  Rustdorp,  and  the  pleasant  bouweries  upon 
its  borders  were  long  the  favourite  country-seats  of 
the  well-to-do  Hollanders. 

At  the  first  Town  Meeting  Daniel  Denton "  was 
chosen  clerk,  "  to  write  and  enter  all  acts  of  public 
concernment  to  ye  towne,  and  to  have  a  dales  work 
off  a  man  for  ye  saide  emploiment."  The  Town 
Books  are  full  of  the  same  curious  entries  as  in 
Hempstead.  In  the  deed  from  the  Rockaway 
Indians,  "  one  thing  is  to  be  remembered  that 
noe  person  is  to  cut  down  any  tall  trees  whereon 
Eagles  °  doe  build  their  nests."  It  is  ordered  in 
Town  Meeting,  that  "  whosoever  shall  fell  a  tree 
on  ye  Highway  shall  take  boughs  and  bodie  off  ye 
Highway." 

On  February  21,  1657,  it  is  "At  Town  Meeting 
voted  and  concluded  that  the  Littel  Playnes  shall 
be  layed  out  and  proportioned  to  every  man  accord- 
ing to  his  medow,  as  other  denizons  of  land,  and 
that  the  town  are  to  be  divided  into  squadrons, 
every  squadron  taking  their  part     .     .     .     and  the 

■  Its  name  long  recalled  the  once  numerous  beavers.  As  late  as 
1742,  it  was  voted  at  Town  Meeting  that  the  "Bever  Pond  shall  not 
be  darned  or  stoped  above  the  natural  course." 

'  Daniel  Denton  was  re-elected  yearly  until  1664.  In  1665,  he 
bought  lands  at  Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey,  and  led  the  colony  of 
Hempstead  men  who  founded  Newark.  Thus  early  began  the 
swarming  from  the  mother-hive. 

'  Perhaps  fish-hawks  are  meant,  which  on  the  New  Jersey  coast 
are  still  protected  as  scavengers. 


THE  JAMAICA    TOWN  BOOKS.  I99 

surveyours  are  to  have  one  peny  an  acor  for  their 
laying  out  this  land  according  to  order.'     (I.,  88.) 

"At  a  Town  Meeting  held  at  Jamaica  the  22nd 
Sept.  anno  1686,  the  Town  doe  make  choise  of 
William  Crede'  to  goe  to  Huntington  there  to 
meete  ye  reste  of  ye  deputies  that  shall  meete 
there  from  ye  other  towns,  to  agetate  with  them,  and 
allsoe  to  determine  conserning  what  they  all  shall 
unanimously  agree  upon,  conserning  ye  grievances 
or  privileges  of  ye  County."  (I.  52.)  "Agitation" 
was,  even  thus  early,  an  approved  method  of  reform. 

To  secure  the  abode  among  them  of  the  most 
useful  of  artisans,  was  a  matter  of  public  concern. 
In  1691,  it  was  "voted  and  agreed  at  Town  Meet- 
ing, that  John  Freeman,  Smith,  shall  have  for  his 
encouragement  to  come  and  live  amongst  us  and  to 
foUowe  his  trade,  ten  acres  of  land  where  he  can 
finde  it,  as  near  the  towne  as  may  be  moste  for  his 
convenience,  provided  it  doeth  not  belong  to  any 
particular  person,  and  also  give  free  liberty  to  the 
said  Freeman  to  keepe  what  cattle  he  shall  have  to 
goe  upon  the  Common,  and  also  get  what  timber 
he  shall  have  occasion  for  to  fens  his  land,  or  for 
buildeings."     (II.  64.) 

When  Long  Island  was  divided  into  counties, 
Jamaica  became  the  shire-town  of  Queens,  a  posi- 
tion it  had  already  held  in  the  North  Riding.'     Its 

■  This  arrangement  was  confirmed  in  1659,  when  the  people  were 
"  to  mow  in  squadrons,  to  wit,  John  Townsend  and  his  squadron  at 
the  East  Neck  ;  Nathaniel  Denton  and  his  squadron  at  the  Haw- 
trees,''  and  so  on. 

'  Of  the  family  from  which  Creedmoor  takes  its  name. 

'  January  i,  i66^,  an  ordinance  was  passed  at  fforte  James,  to 


200  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  Booke  of  Enterys"  dates  from  1683;  the  probate 
record  in  the  Surrogate's  Office  from  1687.  The 
County  Hall  was  built  in  1687,  and  made  over  to 
Richard  Cornwall  on  condition  that  he  keep  it  in 
repair  for  twenty-one  years.  In  1708,  it  was  rebuilt 
and  used  until  the  erection  of  the  Court  House  on 
Hempstead  Plains  eighty  years  later. 

In  this  "  Booke  of  Enterys  for  Queen's  County  on 
Long  Island,"  a  time-stained  folio,  bound  in  white 
vellum,  written  in  the  careful,  crabbed  chirography 
which  was  the  pride  of  the  skilled  clerks  of  an  earlier 
time,  is  a  record  which  brings  up  an  historic  tableau 
of  vivid  contrasts : 

"At  the  Court  of  Kensington,  the  nth  day  of 
April,  1706,  Present,  the  Queen's  most  excelU  ma?'. 
His  Royal  Highness,  Prince  George  of  Denmark, 

"  The  Lord  Keeper, 

"  The  Lord  Treasurer, 

"The  Lord  President, 

"The  Duke  of  Ormond, 

"The  Earl  of  Bradford, 

"The  Earl  of  Ranelagh, 

"  Lord  Dartmouth, 

"  Lord  Coningsby, 

"  Mr.  Secy  Hedges, 

"  Mr.  Secy  Hartly, 

"  The  Lord  Cheife  Justice  Trevor, 

"  Mr.  Vernon, 

"  Mr.  Howe, 

"  Mr.  Erie. 

raise  ;^ioo,  it  having  been  agreed  that  "ye  Sessions  House  and 
Prison  for  ye  Riding  shall  be  built  in  the  Town  of  Janjaica." 


IN  COUNCIL  A  T  THE  COURT  OF  KENSINGTON.     20I 

"  Whereas  by  Commission  under  the  Great  Seale 
of  England,  the  Governor,  Council  and  Assembly  of 
the  Province  of  New  York  in  America  have  been 
authorised  and  impowered  jointly  and  severally,  to 
make,  constitute  and  ordain  Laws,  Statutes  and  or- 
dinances which  are  to  be  as  near  as  conveniently 
may  be,  agreeable  to  the  Laws  and  Statutes  of  this 
Kingdom,  and  to  be  transmitted  to  her  Ma'y^  for 
her  Royall  approbation,  or  Disallowance  of  them, 
and  whereas  in  pursuance  of  the  said  powers  a  Law 
past  in  the  Gen?  Assembly  has  transmitted  the  fol- 
lowing to  enable  William  Bradford,  Printer,  of  New 
York,  to  sell  and  dispose  of  the  estate  of  John 
Dewsbury,  late  of  Oyster  Bay,"  etc.,  etc. 

The  phlegmatic  Queen  Anne — where  no  positive 
traits  of  character  exist,  it  is  easy  to  win  the  epithet 
of  "  good,"  her  yet  more  stolid  husband,  the  dozen 
gowned  and  periwigged  Lords  of  the  Council, 
assembled  in  the  Cabinet  Meeting  held  at  Kensing- 
ton, every  Sunday,  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of 
monarchy,  brought  to  bear  upon  the  transfer  of  a 
few  acres  of  land  on  this  distant  island — is  not  this  a 
striking  antithesis? 

Jamaica  was  settled  by  Independents,  but  they 
did  not  bring  with  them  the  grace  of  charity,  nor 
were  they  disposed  to  allow  to  those  of  other  beliefs 
the  liberty  which  they  claimed  for  themselves.  Their 
spirit  is  instanced  by  the  following,  one  of  many 
similar  records  in  the  Town  Books : 

"  We  whose  names  are  underwritten  doe  by  these 
presents  promise  and  engage  that  iff  any  meeting  or 
Conventicle  off  the  Quakers  shall  bee  in  this  town 


202  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

of  Rusdorp,  wee  will  give  information  to  ye  augh- 
tority  set  in  this  place  by  ye  Governor  and  allsoe 
assist  ye  aughtority  of  the  Town  against  all  such 
persons  called  Quakers,  as  need  shall  require. 

"With   this  we  set  our  hands  this  ii  February 
1661. 

"  Thos.  Wiggins,  Sam  Matthews, 

"  Na.  Denton,  Ben  Coe, 

"  And.  Messenger,         M.  Foster, 

"Abra.  Smith,  Geo.  Mills." 

The  Town  Books  never  use  the  denominational 
name.  Independent,  or  Congregational,  or  Presby- 
terian, and  the  exact  tenets  of  the  first  churches  in 
both  Hempstead  and  Jamaica  are  not  known.  It 
has  been  with  reason  supposed  that  as  coming  from 
New  England  the  people  were  Independents,  and 
congregational  in  their  ecclesiastical  polity,  while 
the  Presbyterians  claim  them,  because  the  Reverend 
Richard  Denton  was  sometimes  so  called,  and  the 
church  at  Hempstead  in  its  earliest  register  is  styled 
"  Christ's  First  Presbyterian  Church,"  a  name,  how- 
ever, it  is  to  be  observed,  which  was  not  used  by  the 
Stamford  settlers.  The  "  society  "  in  Jamaica  may 
have  been  soon  turned  to  Presbyterianism,  for  the 
Reverend  George  MacNish,  a  charter  member  of  the 
first  Presbytery  in  America,  was  long  resident  there 
and  active  in  their  affairs,  civil  and  religious, — "a 
tower  of  strength  about  which  the  Puritans  rallied." 
The  secular  business  of  the  Church  was  long 
ordered  by  the  Town  Meeting.  The  Town  was 
the  congregation.  Its  records  preserve  all  that  is 
known  of  the  early  organisation.     In  April,  1662, 


THE   FIRST  MEETING-HOUSE.  203 

the  Town  decrees  that  "  a  house  bee  built  for  the 
ministre,  the  rate  to  be  levied  on  the  medowes '  and 
house-lotts."  A  year  later,  August  30,  1663,  it  is 
ordered  that  a  Meeting-house  be  built  twenty-six 
feet  by  twenty-six.  Men  were  appointed  to  be 
"  Collectors  of  all  rates  for  the  Ministers  °  and  all 
other  Town  Charges,"  and  the  calling  of  a  candidate 
for  their  pulpit  was  thus  ordered : 

"At  the  Town  Meeting  called  April  ye  3rd  1688, 
the  Town'  hath  agreed  with  John  Heins  for  a  piece 
of  eight '  to  give  the  town  a  visset  in  order  to  settling 
amongst  us,  and  the  Town  doe  appoint  ye  Clark  to 
write  a  letter  to  ye  said  ministre  and  to  give  him  an 
invitation  to  come  amongst  us  to  dispense  ye  word 
off  God  in  behalf  off  ye  Town." 

The  building  of  the  second  church  was  decreed, 
December  6,  1689.  There  was  a  Town  Meeting 
called  at  which  it  was  "  then  and  there  voted  there 
should  be  a  Meeting-House  built  in  this  town  of 
Jamaica  60  feet  long  30  feet  wide  &  every  way  else 
as  shall  be  comely  and  convenient  for  a  Meeting- 
House."  This  house  was  finished  in  about  three 
years,  and  remained  standing  until  1813. 

'  "  That  being  the  most  equal  way,  because  every  man's  right  and 
proportion  in  the  township  did  arise  from  the  quantity  of  medowe 
land  he  did  possess." 

'  This  method  was  not  always  successful.  Governor  Dongan  com- 
plains in  his  Report  of  1687  that  "  As  for  the  King's  natural-born 
subjects  who  live  on  Long  Island  and  other  parts  of  the  Government, 
I  find  it  very  hard  to  make  them  pay  their  ministers.'' 

*  Note  the  expression,  "The  Town  hath  agreed"  ;  no  indication 
of  individual  votes,  all  is  merged  in  the  common  action  of  the 
Gemot. 

^  A  piece  of  eight  was  a  silver  coin  of  the  value  of  eight  shillings. 


204  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

In  February,  1663,  a  call  had  been  given  to  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Walker,  who  was  there  for  a  few 
years.  In  1670,  Mr.  Prudden  came  and,  with  an 
interval  of  two  years,  1675-6,  filled  by  William 
Woodrop  (Woodruff),  was  the  preacher  until  1692. 
A  call  was  then  given  to  Jeremiah  Hobart,  who  had 
been  for  ten  years  in  Hempstead,  but  he  did  not 
come  to  Jamaica  until  some  years  later,  and  then 
only  for  a  brief  period.  The  time  was  filled  in  part 
by  one  George  Phillips.  From  1702-5  was  the 
pastorate  of  the  devout  young  minister,  John  Hub. 
bard,  who  died  in  office  and  lies  in  an  unmarked 
grave  in  the  village  Burying-ground.^ 

Among  the  most  loved  of  the  early  Presbyterian 
pastors  of  Jamaica,  was  the  Reverend  Walter  Wil- 
mot,  who  died  in  1744,  but  shortly  after  his  beauti- 
ful young  wife,  Freelove  Townsend.  This  young 
woman,  dying,  a  wife  and  mother  at  twenty-three, 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  those  ethereal  characters 
which  bloom  at  rare  intervals  in  an  environment 
however  austere.  She  was  of  the  Saint  Theresa 
type  of  spirit,  and  her  diary  and  remaining  letters 
preserve  meditations  esteemed  most  edifying. 

Matthias  Burnett,  D.D.,  was  the  pastor  from  1775 
to  1785.  His  steadfast  loyalty  preserved  the  church 
from  desecration  during  the  military  occupation  of 
Jamaica,  but  at  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  one  of 
the  expatriated. 

'  In  the  newly  established  Boston  News  Letter  of  October  22, 
1705,  is  the  following  : 

"Jamaica  Long  Island,  October  the  nth.  On  Fryday  the  5th 
current,  dyed  here  the  Reverend  Mr.  John  Hubbard,  minister  of  a 
church  in  this  Place,  aged  28  years,  9  months,  lacking  4  days." 


QUEEN  ANNE'S  GIFT.  20S 

The  Presbyterian  Meeting-house,  used  also  for 
sessions  of  the  County  Court,  was  not  built  until 
the  year  1700.  It  is  the  oldest  existing  edifice  of 
the  name  in  America. 

In  1689,  it  was  ordered  at  the  Town  Meeting  that 
a  church  (first  use  of  the  word)  be  built.  The  next 
year  "  the  Stone  Church,"  a  quadrangular  structure 
with  belfry,  and  rounded  arches  over  the  windows 
and  doors,  was  finished  and  used  by  the  Church  of 
England  from  1703  to  1728. 

The  English  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  was  incorporated  in  1701. 
It  immediately  appointed  the  Rev.  Patrick  Gordon, 
sometime  chaplain  in  the  Royal  Navy,  as  Missionary 
at  Jamaica,  under  title  of  the  Rector  of  Queens 
County.  Mr.  Gordon  reached  Long  Island  in  June, 
1702,  but  died  almost  within  a  month,  "to  the  grief 
of  all  good  men."  He  was  buried  beneath  the  altar 
in  the  Stone  Church.  Until  the  coming  of  another 
clergyman,  Mr.  Vesey,  then  Rector  of  Trinity  in  the 
Parish  of  New  York,  held  occasional  services.  In 
1704,  James  Honeyman,  named  as  Rector  of  Ja- 
maica, but  never  inducted,  writes  to  the  Society  of 
the  lack  of  proper  ecclesiastical  furnishings :  "  We 
have  a  church  in  this  town,  but  it  is  so  far  from 
ornamental  that  we  have  not  those  necessarys  that 
are  necessary  to  the  daily  discharge  of  our  office, 
namely,  no  Bible  nor  Prayer-Book,  no  cloaths 
neither  for  the  pulpit  nor  altar."  These  wants  were 
supplied  the  next  year  by  the  gift  of  Queen  Anne 
to  the  churches  of  Jamaica,  Hempstead,  West- 
chester, Rye,  and  Staten  Island,  of  a  large  Bible  and 


2o6  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Prayer-book,  a  pulpit  frontal,  and  a  communion 
table,  a  silver  chalice  and  paten. 

Mr.  Honeyman  continues,  "  To  this  parish  belong 
two  other  towns,  Newtown  and  Flushing,  famous 
for  being  stocked  with  Quakers,  whither  I  intend  to 
go  upon  their  Meeting-Days  on  purpose  to  preach 
Lectures  against  their  errours."  About  this  time. 
Colonel  Morris,  with  judicious  recognition  of  the 
needs  of  a  people  so  diverse  in  race,  in  traditions, 
and  in  present  beliefs,  writes  the  S.  P.  G. :  "We 
want  missionaries,  not  young  but  pious,  whose  grav- 
ity as  well  as  argument  shall  persuade.  This  is  a 
country  in  which  a  very  nice  conduct  is  necessary, 
and  requires  men  of  years  and  experience  to  man- 
age." 

The  fall  of  1702  was  the  time  of  the  "  Great  Sick- 
ness "  in  New  York,  an  epidemic  of  yellow  fever 
brought  from  St.  Thomas.  The  Assembly  of  the 
Province  removed  its  session  to  Jamaica  until  No- 
vember 4th,  and  Lord  Cornbury  established  himself 
and  his  pseudo-court  in  the  Presbyterian  parsonage. 
When  the  new  rector,  the  Reverend  William  Ur- 
quhart,  came,  two  years  later,  the  Governor  ordered 
the  Presbyterian  minister,  Mr.  Hubbard,  to  give  up 
both  manse  and  glebe  to  Mr.  Urquhart.  This  dis- 
possession was  the  occasion  of  long  continued 
contention.  Memorials  from  the  people  to  the 
Governor,  addresses  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  a 
final  appeal  to  the  Queen ;  disputes  for  the  occu- 
pancy of  the  building,  "  shameful  disturbance, 
bawling  and  tugging  of  seats  "  in  the  attempt  to  re- 
move the  clergyman  who  was   conducting   service, 


DISPUTES  OVER  PRESBYTERIAN  PROPERTY.     207 

were  among  the  fruits  of  Lord  Cornbury's  arbitrary 
and  ill-considered  action.  He  then  forbade  Mr. 
Hubbard  "  evermore  to  preach  in  the  church,  for  in 
regard  that  it  was  built  by  a  publick  tax,  it  did 
apertain  to  the  established  church."  Feeling  ran 
high,  but  the  Episcopal  party  kept  possession  of  the 
parsonage,  and  much  of  the  time  of  the  Meeting- 
house," until  ejected  by  process  of  law  in  1727. 

Mr.  Urquhart'  was  inducted  by  Mr.  Vesey,  July 
27, 1704.  Supported  in  part  by  the  subscriptions  of 
the  Yorkshire  clergy,  the  S.  P.  G.  gave  him  fifty 
pounds  a  year,  and  fifteen  pounds  to  buy  books  for 
his  mission.  He  remained  in  Jamaica  until  his 
death  five  years  later,  and  was  followed  by  the 
Reverend  Thomas  Poyer,  whose  incumbency  was 
from  1710  to  1732. 

Mr.  Poyer  was  from  Wales  and  was  the  grandson 
of  that  Colonel  Poyer  who  so  gallantly  defended 
Pembroke  Castle  in  the  days  of  Cromwell.  After  a 
three  months'  voyage  he  was  shipwrecked  as  he 
neared  America  and  cast  on  the  shore  of  Long 
Island,   a   hundred   miles   to   the   eastward   of  his 

'  In  1709,  when  Gerardus  Beeckman,  as  President  of  the  Council 
was  Acting-Governor  of  the  province,  the  Presbyterians  got  posses- 
sion of  the  Meeting-house,  and  Governor  Hunter,  on  his  arrival 
resisted  the  appeals  of  the  church  people  to  eject  the  occupants. 

=  Colonel  Heathcote  wrote  to  the  S.  P.  G.  that  Mr.  Urquhart 
"  has  the  most  difficult  task  of  any  missionary  in  this  Government, 
for  although  he  has  not  only  the  Character  of  a  good  man,  but  of 
being  very  extraordinarily  industrious  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty, 
yet  he  having  a  Presbyterian  Meeting  House  on  one  hand  and  the 
Quakers  on  the  other,  and  very  little  assistance  in  his  Parish  except 
from  those  who  have  no  interest  with  the  People,  so  that  his  work 
cant  but  go  very  heavily,  as  I  understand  it  does." 


2o8  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

parish.  Nor,  when  after  a  toilsome  journey  he 
reached  Jamaica,  did  he  find  rest  of  body  or  repose 
of  mind.  A  clause  in  the  "Act  of  Assembly"'  for 
the  "  Settling  of  the  Ministry  in  the  Province,"  em- 
powered the  people  to  choose  their  minister.  They 
had  acted  thereon  ;  a  dissenting  preacher  had  been 
called,"  and  they  claimed  for  him  the  parish  dues. 
The  rector  of  Hempstead  wrote  to  the  S.  P.  G.  of 
the  state  of  affairs  in  Jamaica,  and  of  his  fears  lest 
the  "  vacancies  in  most  parishes  be  filled  with  dis- 
senters, and  Dissension  set  triumphant  on  the  throne 
supported  by  the  laws  of  the  Government.  .  .  . 
But  if  these  people  are  once  more  nipped  in  the 
bud  and  Mr.  Poyer  restored  to  his  right,  I  presume 
they  will  scarce  offer  to  flutter  again  as  long  as  there 
is  a  Crowned  head  that  sways  the  Sceptre  of  Great 
Britain." 

On  the  other  hand.  Cotton  Mather  writes  to  a 
friend  in  England  from  the  Dissenters'  point  of 
view.  He  concludes  by  saying,  "  The  good  people 
there  do  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God,  their  Saviour  by 
a  most  laudable  silence  and  wonderful  patience  under 
these  things,  but  if  such  things  proceed,  that  noble 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  Religion  in  America 
will  greatly  wound  Religion  and  their  own  Reputa- 
tion also,  which  ought   to  be   forever  venerable." 

'  Introduced  by  Governor  Fletcher  in  1693  ;  the  Province  was 
divided  into  ecclesiastical  districts  which  were  yearly  to  elect  two 
wardens  and  ten  vestrymen  (often  dissenters),  who  were  to  call  a 
clergyman  and  to  lay  a  tax  for  his  support.  This  legislation  was 
meant  to  establish  the  Church  of  England,  but  it  was  not  so  carried 
into  effect. 

'  George  MacNish,  previously  mentioned. 


GRACE  CHURCH.  209 

Finally,  in  171 1,  the  clergy  of  the  colonies  of  New- 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania  address  to  the 
Bishop  of  London,  a  Memorial'  which  is  meant  to  be 
a  fair  summing  up  of  the  questions  at  issue. 

Through  all  these  troubles  Mr.  Poyer  kept  dili- 
gently at  work,  and  "  strained  himself  in  travelling 
through  the  Parish  beyond  his  strength,  and  not 
seldom  to  the  prejudice  of  his  Health,  which  is 
Notorious  to  all  the  Inhabitants  for  almost  seven 
years  past,  in  all  of  which  time,  he  has  not  received 
one  farthing  of  his  Sallary  allowed  him  by  the  Laws 
of  this  Province."  His  was  indeed  a  life  of  great 
hardship  and  deprivation,  shown  with  simple  pathos 
in  his  letters  to  the  S.  P.  G. 

He  began  a  careful  register  of  baptisms,  marriages, 
and  burials,  a  book  whose  tattered,  time-yellowed 
pages  still  exist.  The  titles  of  some  of  his  sermons 
are  suggestive,  and  link  our  quiet  Island  with  the 
stirring  story  of  the  mother-country.  In  June,  1716, 
there  is  "  A  Thanksgiving  for  the  Overthrow  of  the 
Enemies  of  Church  and  State  in  North  Britain." 
On  a  January  thirtieth,  the  "  Martyrdom  of  King 
Charles"  is  commemorated,  and  on  the  fifth  of 
November  he  celebrates  a  "Thanksgiving  for  the 
Failure  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot." 

After  Mr.  Foyer's  death,  came  the  Reverend 
Thomas  Colgan,  a  young  man  who  had  married 
Mary  Reade,  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Vesey.  He  was 
rector  from  1733  to  1755.  Grace  Church  was  then 
building,  and  was  consecrated  April  5,  1734.  Mr. 
Colgan   then   preached   from   Genesis  xxviii.   16 — 

■  See  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  224-33. 


2IO  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  Surely  the  Lord  is  in  this  place."  Bradford's  New 
York  Gazette  says  of  the  occasion  :  "  His  Excellency, 
Gov.  Cosby,  his  lady  and  whole  family  were  pleased 
to  honour  the  meeting  with  their  presence.  The 
Militia  were  under  arms  to  attend  his  Excellency 
and  so  great  a  concourse  of  people  met  that  the 
Church  was  not  near  able  to  contain  the  number. 
After  the  sermon,  his  Excellency  and  family,  several 
ladies  and  gentlemen  and  the  clergy  were  splendidly 
entertained  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Samuel  Clowes,  a 
tavern  in  the  same  town  by  the  members  of  the  said 
Church." 

During  his  early  pastorate,  Mr.  Colgan  writes  in 
many  letters  of  the  state  of  the  church : — "  The 
Church  is  thought  to  be  one  of  the  handsomest  in 
North  America.  .  .  ,.  We  want  a  bell.'  .  .  .  Our 
Church  is  flourishing.  We  are  at  peace  with  the 
sectaries  round  us.  I  shall  be  of  a  loving  and  charit- 
able demeanour  to  every  persuasion."  This  Christian 
purpose  met  its  natural  reward.  A  year  later  he  is 
able  to  write  that  "  the  independents  who  formerly 
thought  it  a  crime  to  join  with  us  in  worship  now 
freely,  and  with  seeming  sanctity  and  satisfaction 
come  to  our  Church  when  there  is  no  service  in 
their  Meeting-House."  Zealous  in  scattering  ortho- 
dox reading  °  and  in  winning  dissenters,  he  writes  in 

'  November  lo,  1747,  the  New  York  Post-Boy  announces  the 
drawing  of  the  Jamaica  lottery  to  purchase  a  bell  for  Grace  Church. 

'  In  1770,  Mr.  Colgan  writes  to  the  S.  P.  G.  :  "  Some  itinerant 
enthusiastical  teachers  have  of  late  been  preaching  upon  this  Island, 
the  notorious  Mr.  Whitfield  being  at  the  head  of  them,  and  among 
other  pernicious  tenets  have  broached  such  false  and  erronious 
opinions  regarding  the  doctrine  of  Regeneration,  that   I  beg  the 


PARSON  BLOOMER.  211 

1743  that  he  had  baptised  seventeen  persons  from 
three  families  "  tainted  with  Anabaptism  and  Quak- 
erism,"and  soon  after  rejoices  that  "an  entire  family 
of  good  repute  had  conformed  from  Independency 
to  our  Church." 

Mr.  Colgan  was  followed  by  Samuel  Seabury,  of 
Hempstead,  later  the  first  Bishop  of  Connecticut. 
Mr.  Seabury  came  to  Jamaica  from  New  Brunswick, 
where  he  had  first  preached.  His  residence  of 
eleven  years  was  marked  by  deep  discouragement 
and  by  alarm  over  the  progress  of  "  Infidelity  and 
Quakerism."  In  1764,  he  writes  of  Mr.  Whitfield's 
second  visit :  "  I  feel  it  has  done  a  great  deal  of 
harm.  His  Tenets  and  methods  of  preaching  have 
been  adopted  by  a  great  many  of  the  Dissenting 
teachers  and  this  Town  has  h.ad  an  almost  daily  suc- 
cession of  Shouting  Preachers  and  Exhorters,  and 
the  poor  Church  of  England  is  on  every  occasion 
represented  as  Popish."  He  then  makes  a  strong 
appeal  for  the  ordination  of  Colonial  bishops,  with- 
out whom  he  believes  "  the  Church  cannot  flourish 
in  America,  and  unless  the  Church  be  well-supported 
and  prevail,  this  whole  continent  will  be  overrun 
with  Infidelity  and  deism,  Methodism '  and  New 
Light  with  every  species  and  degree  of  Scepticism 
and  Enthusiasm." 

The  Reverend  Joshua  Bloomer,  who  was  one  of 
that  first  class  of  four  graduated  by  King's  College  in 

Society  to  bestow  upon  the  people  of  this  Parish,  a  few  of  Dr. 
Waterland's  pieces  upon  that  subject  and  of  his  Lordship  the  Bishop 
of  London's  Pastoral  Letters  upon  lukewarmness  and  enthusiasm." 

'  Captain  Webb,  one  of  Wesley's  most  ardent  converts,  had  come 
to  Jamaica. 


212  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

1758,  had  been  a  captain  in  the  Provincial  forces  at 
the  taking  of  Quebec.  Later,  he  was  a  merchant 
in  New  York,  and  after  going  to  England  to  study 
Theology,  became  the  rector  of  Jamaica,  where  he 
served  from  1769  to  1790.  He  experienced  the  same 
difficulty  as  Mr.  Poyer  in  drawing  his  salary,  which 
was  given  by  the  Town  to  the  dissenting  preacher, 
and  being  of  somewhat  contentious  spirit,  he  insti- 
tuted several  lawsuits  for  its  recovery.  But  that 
this  was  not  regarded  altogether  as  a  personal  matter 
is  evident  from  a  letter  of  Cadwallader  Colden  to 
Governor  Tryon  in  1774  :  "  In  the  case  between  Par- 
son Bloomer  and  the  Church-wardens  of  Jamaica,  Mr. 
Scott  for  the  wardens,  appealed  from  the  decree  which 
your  Excellency  gave  the  day  before  you  embarked. 
As  I  apprehend,  the  contention  is  not  so  much  for 
the  value  in  suit  as  for  the  superiority  of  Church  or 
Presbyterianism.  I  imagine  the  appeal  will  be  carried 
on  in  a  manner  that  will  cost  the  courts  very  high." 

The  old  Grace  Church  stood  until  1822,  when  it 
was  replaced  by  the  "  New  Grace  Church,"  burned 
in  1861.  The  present  beautiful  memorial  structure  of 
brown  stone  was  built  in  1863. 

A  Dutch  Church  was  probably  organised  in 
Jamaica  before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
as  there  is  record  of  a  baptism  June  I,  1702,  but  for 
many  years  it  had  no  local  habitation  nor  name. 
In  1 71 5,  Articles  of  Agreement  were  made  by  the 
"  Nether  Dutch  Congregation  of  Queens  County  in 
the  Island  of  Nassau,  the  Consistory  of  New  Ja- 
maica," and  steps  were  taken  toward  putting  up  a 
church.     This  first  house,  built  in  1716  and  standing 


THE   OLD  BURYING-GROUND.  21 3 

for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  was  an  octagonal  struc- 
ture, in  front  of  which  was  a  stately  row  of  Lom- 
bardy  poplars.  Its  fine  bell  was  cast  in  Amsterdam, 
and  many  a  silver  guilder  gave  sweetness  to  its  tone. 
Within  the  church  were  fourteen  long  benches  for 
the  men,  and  thirteen  for  the  women.  The  front 
seat,  "  'T  Heere  Bank,"  was  reserved  for  the  magis- 
trates. The  Doophuysje  was  near  the  altar;  the 
scant  alms  were  collected  in  the  silken  "  sacje  "  not 
yet  entirely  out  of  use.  Service  was  held  in  the 
Dutch  language  until  1792,  and  then,  for  many  years, 
on  alternate  weeks  in  Dutch  and  in  English.  From 
the  church  at  Jamaica  came  the  church  at  Success 
Pond,  built  in  1731,  when  Maarten  Wiltse  sold  to 
Adraien  Onderdonk  and  Cornells  Ryersen  one-half 
acre  for  a  building  lot.  Other  churches  were  founded 
in  1732  at  Wolver  Hollow,  and  in  1735  at  Newtown. 
In  the  old  church-yard  of  Grace  Church,  and  in 
the  still  earlier  Town  Burying-ground  (now  included 
in  Prospect  Cemetery),  are  many  curious  epitaphs  and 
quaint  specimens  of  mortuary  sculpture.  There  still 
remain  a  few  "  field-stones,"  roughly  rectangular 
slabs  of  granitic  gneiss,  glacier-scarred,  and  faintly 
cut  with  name  and  date,  which  belong  to  the  first 
epoch  of  settlement.  Later,  come  the  tough  gray 
slate,  and  the  flaking  red  sandstone,  carved  with 
grotesque  symbols,  equalled  only  in  the  illustrations 
to  some  earl)'  edition  of  Quarles's  Emblems.  A  skull 
and  crossbones,  an  hourglass,  or  blinking  cherubim 
with  formal,  fantastic  arrangement  of  curls  and  pin- 
ions, stiff  as  in  an  Assyrian  sculpture,  are  among  the 
most  frequent  devices. 


214  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Some  curious  epitaphs  are  there.     One,  in  mild 

eupheism,  is,  "  In  memory  of who  resigned 

her  breath."     Another  is  as  follows  : 

"  Here  lies  Interd  y=  body 

Of wife  of 

Merch'-    She 

Departed  this  life  y=  I3tli 
January  1767  Aged  26  years 
Oh  Cruel  death  Why  was'  thou 
So  Severe  to  Rob  me  of  a  tender 
Wife  so  dear." 

There  are  some  memorials  to  esteemed  officers  of 
the  British  Army  stationed  there  during  the  Revo- 
lution. Sometimes  one  sees  a  stranger's  grave  bear- 
ing a  name  to  whose  possible  story  there  is  no  clue, 
as  that  of 

"  Paulus  Monetyn  Ujtondaele 

Baron  de  Bretien 

March  27.  1796 

Aged  43." 

But  the  best  comment  on  all  lament  or  panegyric, 
is  the  brief  inscription  on  the  simple  sarcophagus  of 
James  de  Peyster,  who  died  in  1802 : 

"  On  tombs  enconiums  are  but  vainly  spent 
A  virtuous  life  is  the  best  monument."  ' 

'  Throughout  the  old  grave-yards  of  I^ong  Island  are  many  odd 
inscriptions.  In  the  Hempstead  village-ground  is  an  epitaph  to  an 
infant  three  days  old  : 

"  Happy  the  babe  who  privileged  by  fate 
To  shorter  labour  and  a  lighter  weight 
Received  but  yesterday  the  gift  of  breath 
Ordered  to  morrow  to  return  to  death." 


SOCIAL   CONDITIONS. 


215 


Throughout  the  Dutch  and  the  English  adminis- 
trations the  village  of  Jamaica  continued  to  be  what 
it  still  is, — a  genuine  Rustdorp.  It  attracted  from 
New  York  many  who  sought  a  quiet  country  home, 
yet  not  a  sylvan  solitude.  Hence  it  had  always  an 
intelligent  society  in  touch  with  the  best  spirit  of  the 
times,  and  quickly  responsive  to  every  public  event. 

In  the  Sag  Harbour  Presbyterian  Grave-yard  are  the  stones  in 
memory  of  Captain  David  Hand  and  his  five  wives  : 
' '  Behold  ye  living  mortals  passing  by 
How  thick  the  partners  of  one  husband  lie. 
Vast  and  unsearchable  are  the  ways  of  God 
Just  but  severe  is  his  chastening  rod." 

At  Orient  is  the  following  : 

' '  Here  lyes  Elisabeth  one  Samuel  Beebee's  wife 
Who  once  was  made  a  living  soul  but 's  now  deprived  of  life 
Yet  firmly  did  believe  that  at  her  Lord's  return, 
She  should  be  made  a  living  Soul  in  her  own  shape  and  form. 
Lived  4  &  30  years  a  wife,  was  Aged  57." 


X. 

LION   GARDINER. 

ON  a  sunny  knoll  in  the  old  burial-ground  of 
Easthampton,  amid  blue-eyed  grass  and  cin- 
quefoil,  rises  the  granite  tomb  '  of  the  first 
English  planter  within  the  limits  of  the  present 
State  of  New  York.  On  the  slab  beneath  the  roof 
whose  pediments  bear  the  escutcheon  of  his  family, 
lies  in  helmet,  cuirass,  and  greaves,  the  efKgy  of  Lion 
Gardiner.  On  the  plinth  is  inscribed,  on  the  four 
sides,  a  brief  summary  of  his  life  : 

"  An  officer  of  ye  English  army  and  an  Enginery 
of  ye  Master  of  Work^s  Fortification  of  ye  Leaguers 
of  ye  Prince  of  Orange  in  ye  Low  Countries.  In 
163s  he  came  to  New  England. 

"  In  service  of  a  Company  of  Lords  and  Gentle- 
men He  build'd  and  command'd  Say  Brook  Forte. 

"  After  completed  his  terme  of  service  he  moved  in 
1639  to  his  Island  of  which  he  was  sole  owner.  Born 
in  1599,  he  died  in  this  towne  in  1663. 

'  Erected  by  two  of  his  descendants  in  1886,  after  a  design  by 
James  Renwick.  The  grave  was  originally  marked  by  cedar  posts 
and  bars.  When  opened,  the  skeleton  was  found  in  perfect  preserva- 
tion, indicating  a  man  of  six  feet,  two  inches  in  height. 

216 


THE  FORT  AT  SAYBROOK.  217 

"  Venerated  and  honoured  and  under  many  trying 
circumstances  in  peace  and  war,  brave  discrete  and 
true." 

After  valiant  service  with  Fairfax  in  the  Nether- 
lands, Lion  Gardiner  with  his  wife,  Mary  Willemsen 
of  Werden,  came  to  America.  Let  him  tell  his  own 
story  :  "  In  the  year  1635, 1,  Lion  Gardiner,  English- 
man and  Master  of  Workes  of  Fortification  of  the 
Leagues  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries through  the  persuasion  of  Mr.  John  Davenport, 
Mr.  Hugh  Peters  with  some  other  well-affected  Eng- 
lishmen of  Rotterdam,  I  made  an  agreement  with 
the  fore-named  Mr.  Peters  for  100  lbs  per  annum  for 
four  years  to  serve  the  Company  of  Patentees." 

John  Winthrop  writes  of  Gardiner's  coming,  in  his 
Journal,  November  10,  1635  :  "  Here  arrived  a  small 
Norsey  bark  of  25  tons  sent  by  the  Lord  Say  etc. 
with  one  Gardiner,  an  expert  engineer  and  work- 
baas,  &  provision  of  all  sorts  to  begin  a  Fort  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut.  She  came  through 
many  great  tempests  yet  through  the  Lord's  great 
providence,  the  passengers,  12  men,  2  women  &  goods 
are  all  safe.  Mr.  Winthrop  had  sent  four  days  be- 
fore, a  bark  with  carpenters  and  other  workmen  to 
take  possession  of  the  place  (for  the  Dutch  intended 
to  take  it)  and  to  raise  some  buildings."  ' 

Arriving  in  Boston  early  in  November,  he  stayed 
there  long  enough  to  complete  the  works  begun  by 
Winthrop  on  Fort  Hill,  the  first  fortification  on  the 
Tri-Mountain.  The  townsmen  were  detailed  for 
fourteen  days'  work  thereon,  and  he  was  not  long 
'  See  History  of  New  England,  vol.  i,,  p.  208. 


2l8  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

detained  from  the  execution  of  his  orders  from  Lord 
Say  and  Sale,  and  Lord  Brooke.' 

Three  hundred  able-bodied  and  skilled  men  were 
promised  Gardiner.  When  he  reached  the  mouth 
of  the  Connecticut,  November  28,  1635,  he  found 
there  only  twenty  men,  chiefly  carpenters  sent  by 
Winthrop.  A  few  more  came  in  the  spring,  but  in 
numbers  insufificient  to  hold  the  post.  He  was 
"  greatly  galled  by  the  hot  haste  of  Fenwick,  Old- 
ham and  Hugh  Peters  who  came  to  the  Fort  to 
bring  on  the  Pequot  War."  When  the  outbreak 
came,  and  a  force  under  John  Underbill  was  sent 
from  Boston,  he  declared  "  You  have  come  to  raise 
these  wasps  about  my  ears  and  then  you  will  take 
wing  and  fly  away  again."  He  felt  himself  deserted 
by  the  company,  to  whom  he  writes :  "  You  will 
keep  yourselves  safe  in  the  Bay,  but  myself  with 
these  few  you  will  leave  at  the  stake,  or  for  hunger 
to  be  starved."  He  added  :  "  No  foreign  potent 
enemy  would  do  them  any  hurt,  but  one  that  was 
near.  Captain  Hunger."  Urging  the  planting  of  the 
country,  he  besought  them  to  defer  the  war,  to  "  let 
fortifications  alone  and  fight  against  Hunger,"  say- 
ing :  "  War  is  a  three-footed  stool ;  want  one  foot 
and  down  comes  all,  and  these  three  are  men,  victu- 
als and  munitions." 

In  his  old  age,  in  the  quiet  of  Easthampton,  Lion 

'  This  was  the  first  attempt  at  English  settlement  within  the  patent 
granted  to  the  Earl  of  Warwick  in  1630,  for  the  "  Colony  of  Con- 
necticut," in  a  region,  by  right  of  discovery  indisputably  belonging 
to  the  Dutch,  and  where  Hans  den  Sluys  had  already  bought  land  of 
the  Indians  and  at  "  Kievit  Hoeck  "  (Peewit  Point)  had  affixed  to  a 
great  oak  the  Arms  of  Holland. 


TREATY   WITH   WYANDANCH.  2ig 

Gardiner  wrote :  "  A  Relation  of  the  Pequot  Warres  " 
which,  as  it  did  "  prick  some  men's  fingers,"  was  not 
then  made  public.  "  Having  rummaged  and  found 
some  old  papers  then  written,"  the  accuracy  of  the 
narrative  was  assured.  His  apology  for  its  style, 
addressed  to  his  "loving  friends,"  Robert  Chapman 
and  Thomas  Hurlburt,  at  whose  instance  it  was 
written,  is  delightful  in  its  piquant  simplicity. 

"  You  know  that  when  I  came  to  you,  I  was  an 
Engineer  or  Architect,  whereof  carpentry  is  a  little 
part,  but  you  know  I  never  could  use  all  tools,  for 
although  for  my  necessity  I  was  forced  sometimes 
to  use  my  shifting  chisel  and  my  holdfast,  you  know 
I  never  could  endure  or  abide  the  smoothing  plane : 
I  have  sent  you  a  piece  of  timber  scored  and  fore- 
hewed,  unfit  to  join  to  any  handsome  piece  of  work, 
but  seeing  I  have  done  the  hardest  work,  you  must 
get  somebody  to  chip  it  and  to  smoothe  it  lest  the 
splinters  should  pricks  some  men's  fingers,  for  the 
truth  must  not  be  spoken  at  all  times,  though  to  my 
knowledge  I  have  written  nothing  but  truth,  and 
you  may  take  out  or  put  in  what  you  please,  or,  if 
you  will,  you  may  throw  it  into  the  fire." 

The  day  after  the  English  victory  on  the  Mystic, 
Wyandanch,  "  next  brother  to  the  old  Sachem  of 
Long  Island,"  came  to  Gardiner  to  ask  if  he  were 
"  angry  with  all  the  Indians,"  and  offered  as  an 
earnest  of  peace  to  pay  the  English  the  same  tribute 
as  had  been  given  to  the  Pequots.  Then  began  a 
close  association  and  sincere  friendship  between 
Lion  Gardiner  and  the  Montauketts.  The  tribe 
were  in  continual  war  with  the  Narragansetts,  and 


220  EARL  y  LONG  ISLAND. 

were  very  willing  to  aid  the  English  against  them. 
When  Miantonomah,  chief  of  the  Narragansetts, 
tried  to  draw  the  Montauketts  into  plots  against 
the  English,  they  repeatedly  disclosed  to  their  new 
friends  the  plans  of  their  hereditary  enemies.  Gar- 
diner's influence  over  the  Long  Island  Indians  lasted 
through  his  life  and  was  retained  by  his  sons.  Wy- 
andanch  at  his  death  made  him  the  guardian  of  his 
heir,  the  young  Weoncombone,  and  during  the 
regency  of  his  mother,  the  Sachem-squa,  her  acts 
were  valid  only  as  confirmed  by  Gardiner. 

Not  long  after  the  close  of  the  Pequot  war.  Lion 
Gardiner  bought  from  Wyandanch,  for  a  large  black 
dog,  a  gun,  some  powder  and  shot,  and  a  few  Dutch 
blankets,  the  island  Monchonock,  which  has  since 
borne  his  own  name.  It  embraced  thirty-five  hun- 
dred acres  of  hill  and  dale,  rising  in  the  north  to  the 
sheer  cliffs  which  descend  abruptly  to  the  ocean, 
sloping  to  the  southwestward  to  beautiful  glades 
opening  vistas  through  stately  primeval  forests  of 
wide-spreading  oaks.  Gardiner  called  the  estate  the 
Isle  of  Wight  and  moved  thither  in  1639.' 

His  purchase  by  the  Indians  was  confirmed  by 
Farret,  and  in  1683  his  sons  received  the  last  patent 
erecting  the  "  Lordship  and  Manor  of  Gardiner's 
Island."  Provision  was  made  for  a  Court  Baron  and 
a  Court  Leet  and  for  the  advowson  of  churches 
that  might  be  built.  Although  soon  after  nominally 
joined  to  the  township  of  Easthampton,  the  island 
was  held   through   eight   generations   of  unbroken 

'  His  daughter  Elizabeth,  born  there  September  14,  1641,  was  the 
first  English  child  born  in  Nieuw  Nederlandt. 


SUFFOLK  COUNTY.  221 

descent  as  an  entailed  and  independent  barony  until 
its  final  annexation  to  the  State  by  a  legislative  act 
March  7,  1788. 

Lion  Gardiner  was,  with  the  Reverend  Thomas 
James,  one  of  the  chief  proprietors  of  Easthampton, 
whither  he  went  in  1653  to  spend  the  last  ten  years 
of  his  life.  Very  quietly  they  passed,  "  rummaging 
old  papers  "  and  reviewing  his  exceptionally  active 
and  varied  career.  One  would  gladly  know  what 
were  the  "  2  greate  Bookes "  and  the  "  Several 
bookes  "  noted  in  the  inventory  of  his  estate.'  One 
English  folio  there  already  was,  that  might  give  him 
rare  companionship. 

The  English  based  their  claims  to  Long  Island, 
and  particularly  to  Suffolk  County,  two-thirds  its 
territory,  on  the  royal  grant  to  Lord  Sterling.  As 
already  said,  James  Farret  was  his  agent  "  to  sell, 
let  mortgage  or  dispose  of  ye  said  island  as  he  saw 
fit  under  advise  of  the  Right  Worshipful  John 
Winthrop,  Esq.,  Governour  of  Boston  Colony."  Lord 
Sterling  had  never  claimed  jurisdiction  over  Long 
Island,  only  ownership,  but  after  his  death,  Farret 
attempted   to   usurp  sovereign  authority  until   his 

'2  Great  Bookes ;^0O2.o5  Horses 

Several  bookes 007  Cattle 

4  great  cheirs 000. 12  Swine 

15  peeces  of  pewter 003.05  Clothing 

13  peeces  of  hollow  pewter. . . .  002  bedding 

4  porringers  &  4  saucers 000.05  Cooking  utensils 

5  pewter  spoons 000.03  A  cickell 

A  stubing  how  "  cheeze-press 

"  broad      "  "  churn 

"  little        "  2  pasty-boards 


222  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

career  was  arrested  in  Nieuw  Amsterdam — thus,  the 
earliest  holdings  of  Suffolk  County  even  if  purchased 
from  the  Indians,  were  confirmed  by  deeds  from 
Farret. 

The  settlement  of  eastern  Long  Island  was  on 
very  different  lines  from  the  Dutch  colonisation  of 
the  western  towns.  Until  the  English  Conquest, 
the  towns  of  the  later  Suffolk  County  were  subject 
to  no  outside  control  and  were  politically  inde- 
pendent of  one  another.  The  whole  power  was  in 
the  primary  assemblies  of  the  people,  the  Town 
Meeting,  called  the  General  Court.  It  was  a  pure 
democracy  adapted  to  the  sparse  population  and  the 
primitive  simplicity  of  the  times.  By  blood,  by  re- 
ligion, and  by  political  sympathies,  the  strongest  ties 
of  the  people  were  with  New  England.'  Long  and 
strenuous  were  the  eflorts  for  union  with  Connecti- 
cut. Even  to-day,  the  philosophical  historian  of 
that  Commonwealth,  writes  of  the  "  Island  which 
Nature  confirmed  by  Law  assigned  to  Connecticut, 
though  by  the  greed  of  the  House  of  Stuart,  su- 
perior to  both  Nature  and  Law,  transferred  to  New 
York."  Again  he  says  :  "  The  assignment  of  Long 
Island  was  regretted  but  not  resisted,  and  the  island 
which  is  the  natural  sea-wall  of  Connecticut  passed 
by  royal  decree  to  a  province  whose  only  natural 
claim  to  it,  was  that  it  touched  one  corner."  ° 

'  Dongan,  in  his  Report  of  1687,  repeats  and  emphasises  a  former 
utterance  :  "  Most  of  the  people  of  the  island,  especially  towards  the 
East,  are  of  the  same  stamp  as  those  of  New  England,  refractory 
and  very  loath  to  have  any  commerce  with  this  place,  to  the  great 
detm'  of  his  Matys  revenue  @  ruin  of  our  Merchants." 

^  See  Prof.  Johnston's  Connecticut,  pp.  2,  194. 


DIVISION  OF  SUFFOLK  COUNTY.  223 

When  by  the  Act  of  1683,  Yorkshire  was  re- 
divided,  the  East  Riding  was  called  Suffolk  County. 
It  was  the  county  of  manorial  grants,  to  the  families 
of  Gardiner,  Nicoll,  Smith,  and  Floyd,  but  as  land 
tenure  was  by  gavel-kind,  the  immemorial  usage  of 
Kent,  whence  many  of  the  settlers  came,  the  dis- 
regard of  the  rights  of  primogeniture  prevented  the 
maintenance  of  great  family  estates. 

It  was  then  ordained  that  "  the  County  of  Suffolk 
conteyne  the  severall  towns  of  Huntington,  Smith- 
field,  Brookhaven,  Southampton,  Southold,  East- 
hampton  to  Montauk  Point,  Shelter  Island,  the  Isle 
of  Wight,  Fisher's  Island  and  Plumb  Island  with  the 
severall  out-farms,  settlements  and  plantagons  adja- 
cent." Of  the  additional  townships  now  existing, 
Islip  was  established  by  the  colonial  government  in 
1710;  the  town  of  Riverhead  was  separated  from 
Southold  as  River  Head  by  an  Act  of  Legislature  in 
1792,  and  the  southern  part  of  Huntington  was  set 
off  as  Babj^n  in  1872. 


XI. 

THE   CONNECTICUT  TOWNS. 

JUNE  12,  1640,  eight  Englishmen'  on  a  sloop 
from  Lynn,  landed  on  the  southern  shore  of 
Peconic  Bay.  As  told  in  the  story  of  Hemp- 
stead, they  had  already  attempted  a  settlement  at 
'T  Schout's  Bale,  and  it  was  only  on  condition  of 
going  beyond  the  limits  of  Dutch  occupation  that 
they  had  been  released  from  the  imprisonment  in 
Fort  Amsterdam. 

Farret  granted  them  the  land  "between  Pea- 
coneck  and  the  westernmost  part  of  Long  Island 
with  the  whole  breadth  from  Sea  to  Sea,  ...  in 
consideration  of  barge-hire,  and  having  been  driven 
by  the  Dutch  from  the  place  where  they  were  by 
me  planted  to  their  grate  damage."  The  under- 
takers of  the  new  plantation  settled  on  the  shore 
near  where  the  hamlet  of  North  Sea '  later  grew  up, 

'  Their  names  were 

Edmund  ffarington  Job  Sayre 

Thomas  Halsey  Edwin  Howell 

Edward  Needham  John  Cooper 

Daniel  Howe  Henry  Walton 

'  About  the  year  1640,  by  a  fresh  supply  of  the  people  that  settled 
224 


THE  REVEREND  ABRAHAM  PIER  SON.       225 

and  some,  at  "  the  Place  where  the  Indians  trayle 
their  cannoes  out  of  the  North  Bay,"  to  the  south 
side  of  the  Island.  An  Indian  deed  was  given, 
December  13,  1640,  "  in  consideration  of  16  coats 
already  received  and  alsoe  three-score  bushells  of 
Indian  come  to  bee  payed  upon  lawfull  demand." 

Other  families  came  from  Lynn  and  organised  the 
government  of  the  town.  "  They  called  one  Mr. 
Pierson,  a  godly  learned  man  and  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  Boston  to  go  with  them  who  with  7  or  8 
more  of  the  Company  gathered  into  a  Church  body 
at  Linne  (before  they  went)  and  the  whole  company 
entered  into  a  civil  combination  (with  the  advice  of 
our  magistrates)  to  become  a  corporation."  ' 

Mr.  Pierson "  was  from  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
Long  Island  there  was  erected  a  town  called  Southhampton  and 
severed  from  the  Continent  of  New  Haven,  they  not  finding  a  place 
in  any  other  of  the  colonies., — Ogilby's  Description  of  America. 

'  Winthrop's  History  of  New  England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  7. 

°  Cotton  Mather  thus  writes  of  him  in  the  Magnolia  Christi  : 
"  It  is  reported  of  Pliny,  and  it  is  perhaps  but  a  Plinyism  that  there 
is  a  fish  called  Lucerna  whose  tongue  doth  shine  like  a  torch  ;  if  it  be 
a  fable  yet  let  the  tongue  of  a  minister  be  the  moral  of  that  fable  ; 
now,  such  an  illuminating  tongue  was  that  of  our  Pierson.  He  was 
a  Yorkshire  man  and  coming  to  our  New-England  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  Boston.  The  inhabitants  of  Lyn,  straight- 
ened at  home,  looked  out  for  a  new  plantation ;  going  to  Long- 
Island,  they  agreed  both  with  Lord  Sterling's  agent  and  with  the 
Indian  proprietours  for  a  situation  at  the  West-end  of  that  Island 
where  the  Dutch  gave  them  such  disturbance  that  they  deserted  their 
place  for  another  at  the  East-end  of  it.  Proceeding  in  their  planta- 
tion by  the  accession  of  near  one  hundred  families  they  called  Mr. 
Pierson  to  go  with  them.  Thus  was  settled  a  Church  at  Southhamp- 
ton under  the  pastoral  charge  of  this  worthy  man,  where  he  did  with 
laudable  diligence  undergo  two  of  the  three  hard  labours,  'Docentis 
&°  Regentis  to  make  it  (what  Paradise  was  called)  the  island  of  the 


226  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

bridge.  He  remained  in  Southampton  but  two 
years,  going  to  Branford,  as  he  preferred  the  polity 
of  the  New  Haven  Colony  where  only  Church  mem- 
bers were  allowed  to  vote.  In  1667,  he  joined  the 
Hempstead  Colony  at  Newark,  New  Jersey.  His 
son  Abraham,  born  in  Southampton  was  the  first 
President  of  Yale  College. 

Mr.  Pierson  set  forth  in  the  Town  Book  "An  Ab- 
stract of  the  Lawes  of  Judgment  as  given  by  Moses 
to  the  Commonwealth  of  Israel,  soe  farre  foarth  as 
they  bee  of  morall,  i.  e.  of  perpetual  and  universal 
equity.  .  .  .  Consented  vnto  as  ffundamentall  by 
the  Inhabitants  of  this  Collony  of  Southhampton." 

The  code  might  well  have  been  written  in  blood. 
It  gives  seventeen  capital  crimes ;  among  them, 
"  prophaning  the  Lord's  daye  in  a  carelesse  or 
scorneful  neglect  orcontempt  thereof." — "  Rebellious 
children  whether  they  continue  in  Riot  and  Drunk- 
ennesse  after  due  correction  from  Parents,  or  whether 
they  curse  or  Spite  theer  parents  Are  to  be  put  to 
death." — "  Drunkennesse  as  transformeing  God's  Im- 
age into  a  Beast,  is  to  be  punished  with  the  punish- 
ment of  a  Beaste.  A  Whippe  for  the  horse  and  a 
rodde  for  the  fooles  backe."  A  liar  of  over  fourteen 
years  of  age,  was  punished  by  a  fine  of  five  shillings, 
or  five  hours  in  the  stocks. 

Many  of  the  entries  in  the  Town  Books  are  of 
laws  to  regulate  the  austere  life  of  the  community. 

innocent.'  .  .  .  When  the  Church  was  divided,  Mr.  Pierson 
was  directed  by  the  Council,  '  unto  Branford  over  upon  the  main 
and  Mr.  Fordham  came  to  serve  and  feed  thatpart  of  the  Flock  that 
was  left  at  Southhampton  ;  but  wherever  he  came,  he  shone." 


TOWN'  LAWS.  227 

"  February  2nd  1642.  Yt  is  ordered  yf  any  per- 
son what  soever  shall  leave  open  any  common  gates 
whereby  preiduce  shall  work  to  any  person,  the  per- 
son offending  shall  paye  the  damage  and  12  pence 
to  the  townes  vse,  or  else  be  whipped." 

"  December  22.  1642.  Yt  is  ordered  that  every  man 
shall  clear  six  feet  at  the  end  of  His  Howse  Lott 
both  of  stumpes,  tree-tops,  topps  and  what  soever 
shall  bee  any  Annoyance  for  the  passage  of  Men, 
Women  or  Children  by  Night  or  daye,  and  this  to 
bee  done  betwixt  this  and  the  20th  ffebr  vpon  ye 
payn^e  of  5  shillings." 

"  Nov.  6.  1643.  Yt  is  ordered  that  who  soever 
shall  kill  and  bring  ye  head  of  a  woolfe  vnto  eyther 
of  ye  Magistrates  shall  have  paid  vnto  him  the  some 
of  10  shillings." 

1"  Nov.  8.  1644.  lohn  Cooper  the  elder  was  cen- 
sured by  the  Generall  Court  for  some  passionate 
expressions  S  shillings." 

"July  7,  1645.  Yt  is  ordered  that  from  time  to 
time  the  Meeting-house  shall  be  sweeped  vpon  ye 
last  day  of  every  weeke  by  each  ffamily  by  turnes 
vpon  notice  given  by  those  who  swept  it  last." 

"August  2ist,  1650.  Yt  is  ordered  that  yf  the 
miller  shall  grinde  any  corne  in  the  mill  of  an  hour 
paste  sunset  then  for  the  same  he  shall  for  every 
such  defect  pay  10  shillings  to  be  levied  on  his 
goods  and  chattels." 

"June  4,  1651. is  sentenced  for  exorbi- 
tant words  of  imprication  to  stand  with  her  tongue 
in  a  cleft-stick." ' 
'  A  little  later,  a  woman  in  Easthampton  received  the  same  sen- 


228  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  17  June  165 1.  It  is  granted  by  the  Inhabitants 
of  this  town  of  Southhampton  that  Jeremy  Veale, 
blacksmith  of  Salem,  shall  have  the  100  Lott  pro- 
vided he  doe  come  and  settle  here  before  January 
next,  and  that  to  his  power  he  bee  in  readiness  to 
doo  all  black  smithing  work  that  the  inhabitants  doe 
stand  in  nead  of." 

"  March  3,  1653.  Yt  is  ordered  that  for  the  pre- 
venting the  evil  which  is  subject  to  fall  out  by  ex- 
cessive drinking  of  strong  drinke  that  who  soever 
shall  bee  convicted  of  drunkenness  shall  for  the  first 
time  pay  10  shillings,  for  the  second  20  shillings,  for 
the  third  30  shillings." 

"  Sept.  22.  1663.  Liberty  is  granted  by  the  towne 
for  the  making  of  pittes  to  catch  wolves  and  the 
said  pitts  being  made  competently  safe  from  spoyl- 
ing  great  cattle-kind,  if  any  such  cattle  should  chance 
to  be  hurt  or  spoiled  thereby,  the  cost  or  damage 
shall  be  satisfied  by  ye  whole  towne." 

In  1659,  the  Town  sent  to  Connecticut  for  a  copy 
of  these  Laws  from  which  it  selected  those  adapted 
to  its  own  needs.  After  the  Hempstead  Convention 
of  1665,  the  Duke's  Laws  obtained.  The  ofifice  of 
Townsman  was  abolished,  and  a  new  tribunal  estab- 
lished,— the  Court  of  the  Constable  and  Overseers. 
Among  their  duties  was  to  "  warn  people  to  instruct 
their  children  and  servants  in  matters  of  religion  and 
lawes  of  the  country." 

Holding  to  the  validity  of  Lord  Sterling's  Patent, 
the  planters  of  Southampton  paid  no  heed  to  the 

tence  for  saying  that  her  husband  ' '  had  brought  her  to  a  place  where 
there  was  neither  gospel  nor  magistracy." 


INCORPORATION  OF  SOUTHAMPTON.        229 

Act  of  1664,  but  on  Andros's  arrival,  all  lands  were 
declared  forfeited  unless  their  ownership  was  con- 
firmed by  new  patents  issued  by  him.  The  business 
was  delayed  until  Manning's  surrender  of  Fort 
James  to  the  Dutch  in  1673,  found  it  still  unsettled. 
Southampton  then  gladly  seized  the  chance  to  ap- 
peal to  Connecticut  to  be  again  received  within  her 
jurisdiction.  But  after  the  final  treaty  between 
England  and  Holland,  Andros  compelled  the  sub- 
mission of  the  rebellious  town.  A  patent  was 
granted'  by  him,  November  i,  1676,  and  renewed 
by  Dongan  ten  years  later.  By  it  the  town  was  de- 
clared a  body  corporate  and  politic  in  deed  and 
name,  yielding  and  paying  to  his  Majesty,  his  heirs, 
and  successors,  the  sum  of  forty  shillings,  yearly,  on 
Lady-Day. 

The  first  Meeting-house  was  built  in  1641,  a  little 
south  of  the  present  village  church.  Three  years 
after,  the  minister,  Abraham  Pierson  and  several  of 
his  parishioners  seceded  and  moved  to  Branford  in 
the  New  Haven  Colony,  when  Southampton  joined 
herself  to  the  Connecticut  Colony.  That  event  oc- 
curred March  7,  1644,  when  it  was  "  voted  and  con- 
sented vnto  by  the  General  Court  that  the  towne  of 

'  This  patent  was  granted  to 

John  Topping,  J.  P.  John  Jennings 

Captain  John  Howell  ^--Francis  Sayre 

-<rhos.  Halsey,  Sen.  Henry  Petersen 

Joseph  Rayner,  Const.  Lieut.  Jos.  Fordhem 

Edward  Howell  John  Cooper 

John  Jagger  Elias  Cook 

John  Foster  Samuel  Clark 
Richard  Post. 


230  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Southhampton  shall  enter  into  combination  with  the 
lurisdiction  of  Connecticut."  This  connection  was 
maintained,  and  Southampton  sent  delegates  to  the 
General  Court  at  Hartford,  until  1664. 

Mr.  Pierson  was  followed  by  Robert  Fordham, 
who  was  engaged  on  a  regularly  increasing  salary — 
"  The  well-beloved  servant  of  the  Lord,  Mr.  fford- 
ham,  after  Appril  i,  1649,  is  to  have  3  score  pounds, 
and  after  1659,  4  score  pounds."  Meanwhile,  the 
town  grew  apace.  A  letter  written  to  the  younger 
Winthrop,  under  date  of  April  4,  1650,  says : 
"  Southhampton  will  be  too  strait  for  Mr.  ffordham's 
friends.  Easthampton  is  full,  and  Mr.  Ogden  begins 
a  town  on  ye  North  side  for  trading." 

In  the  engagement  of  a  Schoolmaster  by  the 
Town  Meeting,  September  22,  1663,  a  generous  pro- 
vision was  thought  to  be  made  for  his  vacation : 
"  By  ye  major  vote  of  the  Town,  it  is  ordered  that 
lonas  Holdsworth  shall  have  ;^35  for  his  schooleing 
per  annum  with  ye  allowance  of  twelve  dayes  in  the 
yeare  liberty  for  his  particular  occations."  The 
next  year,  it  is  "  Ordered  there  shall  be  a  school- 
house  20  foot  long  and  15  foot  wide  built  at  the 
townes  charges  and  finished  for  use  before  winter." 

In  1675,  an  interesting  "  valuac6n  "  of  Southamp- 
ton occurs  in  a  letter  addressed  to  "  the  wors''  his 
ever  hon'^''  and  much  esteemed  Cap'  Matthias  Nicolls, 
Secretary  at  New  Yorke,  theise  p'sents — 

"  It  exactly  amounts  to  twelve  thousand,  five 
hundred  and  fourty  one  pounds,  XVI  s.  VIII.  d. 
Wee  have  diligently  accompted  every  man's  estate 
vp,  and  that  is  the  just  totall  according  to  our  best 


THE   COMMON  LAND.  23 1 

inspection :  wee  herein  send  you  not  the  per'culars 
for  wee  conceive  that  would  bee  but  lost  labour  to 
vs  and  noe  advantage  nor  more  satisfaction  but 
rather  a  cumber  to  you."  Then  followed  an  obse- 
quious excuse  for  delay  in  giving  the  report,  and  a 
petition  against  the  over-rating  of  horses  by  the  old 
law,  which  they  felt  to  be  "  hard  and  oppressive." 
In  a  postscript  is  reference  to  King  Phihp's  war  then 
in  progress  :  "  Wee  are  grieved  to  heare  of  ye  loss  of 
English  blood  by  ye  cruell  damned  pagans,  and  very 
many  are  sorry  the  Indians  here  have  their  guns 
returned  to  them." 

Much  of  the  land  in  Southampton  remained  in 
common.  Throughout  the  eighteenth  century  its 
occupation  was  a  fruitful  source  of  trouble  with  the 
new-comers.  Its  disposition  made  up  a  large  part  of 
the  town  business,  and  during  the  Revolution  under- 
lay much  of  the  enmity  between  the  "  Sons  of  Lib- 
erty "  and  the  fewer  loyal  townspeople.  With  the 
common  pasturage  within  their  own  bounds,  South- 
ampton had  also  rights  on  Montauk.  Thither  the 
young  cattle  were  driven  in  the  spring.  The  day 
for  their  return  in  the  fall  was  fixed  by  special  ordi- 
nance of  the  Town  Meeting.  Strange  that  there 
remains  no  memorial  "  Ranz  des  Vaches,"  but  the 
following  Thursday  was  long  celebrated  as  the  yearly 
thanksgiving.  The  people  resented  the  appointment 
of  a  day  by  Governor  George  Clinton,  and  adhered 
to  their  own  custom  until  Governor  Jay's  proclama- 
tion for  the  celebration  of  November  11,  1795. 

The  Whale  Fishery,  that  prime  source  of  wealth 
in  the  farther  towns,  was  begun  by  John  Ogden  in 


232  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

1660.  It  gave  to  eastern  Long  Island  its  commer- 
cial importance,  and  led  Andros,  in  1678,  to  write : 
"  Our  principal  places  of  trade  are  New  York  and 
Southhampton."  The  disposition  of  drift -whales  was 
early  regulated  by  the  General  Court  :  "  March  7, 
1644.  It  is  ordered  that  yf  by  the  providence  of  God 
there  shall  be  henceforth  within  the  bounds  of  this 
plantacon  any  Whale  or  Whales  cast  vp,  ffor  the 
prevention  of  disorder,  it  is  consented  that  there 
shall  be  foure  wards  in  this  towne.  Eleven  persons 
in  each  ward  shall  be  employed  for  the  cutting  out 
off  the  sayde  whales,  who  for  theyr  paynes  shall 
have  a  double  share.  And  every  Inhabitant  with 
his  child  or  servant  who  is  above  sixteen  yeares  of 
age  shal  have  in  the  division  of  the  other  part  an 
equal  proportion.     .     .     .     It  is  further  ordered  that 

Mr.  Howell, and  Robert  Garner  shal  give 

notice  after  any  storme  to  two  persons,  and  so  from 
tyme  to  tyme  to  two  other  persons,  one  of  whom 
shall  goe  to  viewe  and  espie  if  there  be  any  whales 
caste  vp  as  far  as  the  South  Harbour,  and  the  other 
shal  goe  unto  the  third  pond '  beyond  Meecocks, 
beginning  at  the  windmills  and  yf  any  person  whose 
turne  yt  is  who  have  Information  to  give  upon  dis- 
coverie  and  shal  not  faithfully  performe  the  same 
shal  eyther  pay  10  shillings,  or  be  whipped." 

In  1659,  Wyandanch,  Sachem  of  "  Paumanack,  or 
Long  Island,  hath  sold  unto  Lyon  Gardiner  all  the 
bodys  and  bones  of  all  the  whales  that  come  upon 
the  shore,  only  the  fins  and  tayles  which  wee  reserve 
for  ourselves  and  the  other  Indians." 
'  Later,  called  Georgica. 


THE   WHALE  FISHERY.  233 

Various  agreements  are  preserved  made  with  the 
Indians  who  are  "  To  whale  for  Richard  Howell  and 
Joseph  Fordham  for  two  seasons  for  a  half-share. 
They  are  to  whale  at  Quaquanantuck '  and  to  raft  the 
blubber  to  Shinnecock."  But  when,  in  1716,  Captain 
Samuel  Mulford,  of  Easthampton,  addressed  to  the 
King  a  Memorial"  asserting  the  rights  of  Suffolk, 
and  exposing  the  wrongs  done  to  her  people,  in  no 
denunciation  of  official  oppression  was  he  more  fierce 
than  in  his  defence  of  the  right  of  whale  fishery :  "The 
custom  of  the  Fishing  is  a  free  Custom  because 
there  is  not  any  Law  to  Prohibit.  It  is  an  Antient 
Custom  to  the  Third  and  Fourth  Generation.  It  is 
more  antient  than  the  Colony  of  New  York,  and 
not  in  any  man's  memory  to  the  Contrary  till  of 
late." 

But  the  number  of  whales  in  the  home  waters  was 
uncertain  and  decreasing.  Although  in  1721,  "  they 
talk  of  forty  whales  being  taken  on  Long  Island,"  in 
1722,  "  but  four  whales  were  taken  this  year."  Then 
grew  up  the  great  ship-building  industry,  of  which 
Sag  Harbour  was  the  centre.  Staunch  vessels  were 
built,manned,and  sent  to  the  Pacific  and  to  theArctic, 
and  became  the  source  of  great  wealth  to  the  Eastern 
Towns.  This  prosperity  continued  through  the 
colonial  era  far  into  the  nineteenth  century  and  gave 
impetus  to  many  varied  activities.  It  was  perhaps 
the  impulse  which  established  at  this  remote  point, 
the  first  newspaper  published  on  the  Island  of 
Nassau.     The  Long  Island  Herald,  edited  by  David 

'  Great  Pond. 

'^  See  jV(?a/  York  Documentary  History,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  363-88, 


234  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Frothingham,  sent  out  its  first  number  from  Sag 
Harbour,  May  lo,  1791.  Nine  years  later  it  was 
sold  to  Selleck  Osborn,  and  reappeared  as  The  Suf- 
folk County  Herald. 

In  1640  was  founded  in  the  "  New  Haven  Colony 
and  Jurisdiction,"  a  "  New  Plantation  whose  Design 
is  Religion."  Mr.  Eaton  and  his  associates  then 
bought  from  the  Long  Island  Indians  Yennicock,' 
the  peninsular  extension  of  the  present  town  of 
Southold.  With  it  was  included  Robbin's  Island  in 
Peconic  Bay,  Plumb  Island,  Great  and  Little  Gull 
Islands,  and  Fisher's  Island.' 

In  September,  a  party  came  from  Connecticut,  of 
whom  Peter  Hallock  first  stepped  on  shore.  The 
Planters'  were  chiefly  from  Hingham,  Norfolkshire, 
under  the  leadership  of  their  pastor, -the  Reverend 
John  Youngs.*     There  Mr.   Youngs  "  gathered  his 

'  The  name  Yenicock,  or  Yenicott,  was  used  until  1644,  when  the 
settlement  began  to  be  spoken  of  as  South  Hold.  The  narrow  spit 
of  land  from  Orient  Point  and  along  the  coast  for  thirty  miles  west- 
ward was  called  North  Sea,  or  Northfleet.  It  has  been  claimed  that 
a  few  men  were  settled  there  in  1638. 

^  Discovered  by  Adrian  Block  in  1614,  and  named  for  his  ship- 
mate, Visscher's  Eylandt.  It  was  bought  by  John  Winthrop,  Gov- 
ernor of  Connecticut,  in  1644,  and  in  1668  patented  to  the  NicoU 
family,  "to  be  reputed,  taken  and  held  as  an  entire  enfranchised 
township,  manor  and  place  of  itself." 
*  They  were  : 

The  Reverend  John  Youngs,  Peter  Hallock, 

Isaac  Arnold,  Barnabas  Horton, 

John  Budd,  Thomas  Mapes, 

Jacob  Corey,  Richard  Terry, 

John  Conkling,  John  Tuthill, 

Matthias  Corwin,  William  Welles,  Esq., 

Their  wives  and  children. 
^  Mr.  Youngs  had  been  ordained  in  the  Church  of  England.     He 


GOVERNOR  EATON'S  CODE.  235 

church  anew,"  October  21,  1640,  and  a  meeting- 
house was  at  once  built,  the  oldest  church  on  Long 
Island,  and,  save  the  rude  structure  put  up  by  Peter 
Minuet  within  the  palisades  of  Fort  Amsterdam, 
the  oldest  in  New  York.  The  house  was  built  to 
serve  for  a  place  of  defence,  as  well  as  of  worship,  sur- 
rounded by  a  stockade,  while  underneath  was  a  dun- 
geon, the  site  of  which  is  still  marked  by  a  depres- 
sion in  the  ground.  Mr.  Youngs  was  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  ruler  of  the  settlement,  which  modelled 
itself  upon  the  theocracy  of  New  Haven.  A  court 
was  organised  whose  decisions  were  to  be  based 
upon  the  Levitical  law.'  Franchise  was  limited  to 
members  of  the  church.  There  being  some  opposi- 
tion to  this  restriction.  New  Haven  sent  a  commit- 
tee to  remonstrate  with  the  objectors  and  to  urge 
the  importance  of  keeping  the  government  in  the 
hands  of  "  God's  elect."  Southold  submitted  and 
promised  faithful  conformity  to  the  laws  of  the 
mother  colony.     This  was  in  1643. 

In  1655  Governor  Eaton  formed  a  new  code.  The 
manuscript  was  sent  to  England  to  be  printed,  and 
five  hundred  copies  were  returned,  together  with  a 
seal  for  the  colony  and  great  vellum-bound  books 
for  its  official  records.  Fifty  copies  of  the  code  were 
sent  to  Southold,  but  every  one  has  disappeared." 

was  the  first  Puritan  minister  in  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  and  died  at 
Southold,  February  24,  1672. 

'  "April  2,  1644.  It  is  by  the  Town  Meeting  ordered  that  the 
judicial  laws  of  God  as  they  were  delivered  by  Moses,"  etc. 

See  Johnston's  Connecticut. 

'  Of  the  entire  number,  but  one  copy  is  known  to  exist,  now  in  the 
the  Library  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  at  Worcester. 


236  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

There  was  most  rigid  provision  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  "  Heresy."  In  1658  Humphrey  Norton,  a 
Quaker,  was  sent  from  Southold  to  New  Haven  for 
trial.  There  he  was  fined  twenty  pounds,  severely 
whipped,  branded  with  an  "  H,"  and  banished,  the 
court  declaring  that  "this  was  the  least  they  could  do 
and  maintain  a  clear  conscience  toward  God."  The 
next  year,  "  one  Smith  of  Southold,  for  embracing 
the  opinions  of  the  Quakers,"  was  "  whipped  and 
bound  in  a  bond  of  ;^50  for  future  good  behaviour." 

There  is  a  curious  statute  intended  to  regulate 
speech  :  "  Every  such  person  as  inhabiteth  among 
us  and  shall  bee  found  to  bee  a  common  rate  bearer, 
tattler,  or  busie  bodie  in  idle  matters,  forger  or 
coyner  of  reports,  untruths  or  lyes,  or  frequently 
using  provoking  rude,  unsavourie  words  tending  to 
disturb  the  peace  shall  forfeit  and  pay  for  every 
default  ten  shillings." 

Shelter  Island,  then  called  Farret's  Island,  and 
later  Sylvester's  Island,  submitted  to  New  Haven  in 
1648.  Lord  Sterling  had  given  Farret  permission  to 
take  up  twelve  thousand  acres  in  payment  for  his 
services.  He  chose  Shelter  Island  and  Robin's 
Island,  but  sold  them  in  1641  to  Stephen  Goodyear 
of  New  Haven.  June  i,  1666,  Governor  NicoU 
gave  a  patent  to  Sylvester  and  Company'  erecting 
the  island  into  a  manor  to  be  held  by  the  king  in 
"  free  and  common  socage  and  by  fealty  only,  yield- 

'  They  had  bought  the  island  of  Goodyear  in  1641  for  one  thou- 
sand pounds  of  Muscovado  sugar.  In  1641  they  bargained  with 
Governor  NicoU  to  be  exempt  from  taxation  by  the  payment  of  ^£150, 
half  the  value  in  beef  and  half  in  pork. 


ATTACHMENT  TO  CONNECTICUT.  237 

ing  and  paying  over  one  lamb  on  the  first  day  of 
March,  if  the  same  be  demanded."  On  the  Dutch 
re-conquest,  Colve  assumed  the  right  of  Constant 
Sylvester  and  his  partner,  Thomas  Middleton,  sell- 
ing their  interest  for  ^^5,000  to  Nathaniel  Sylvester 
as  sole  owner.  The  business  of  Shelter  Island  was 
done  at  the  town  meeting  of  Southold,  and  it  had 
no  separate  records  before  1730.  The  manor  finally 
coming  into  possession  of  the  loyalist,  Parker  Wick- 
ham,  Esquire,  was  confiscated  by  the  New  York 
Legislature,  October  22,  1779. 

The  southern  shore  of  Long  Island,  so  strewn  with 
wrecks,  has  a  sad  history.  Mournful  relics  are  every- 
where met,  and  grievous  tales  are  on  the  lips  of 
every  old  longshoreman.  But  from  one  wreck  was 
flotsam  that  has  been  rich  treasure-trove  to  every 
cat-lover  the  country  over.  Late  in  the  seventeenth 
century  an  Italian  bark  was  dashed  to  pieces  off  the 
beach  of  Shelter  Island.  The  crew  were  lost ;  sole 
survivors  of  the  disaster,  there  floated  ashore  on  a 
broken  spar  two  beautiful  Maltese  cats,  the  first  that ' 
were  known  in  America,  progenitors  of  all  that 
charming  race. 

Not  one  of  the  eastern  towns  was  more  persistent 
in  determination  to  belong  to  New  England  than 
was  the  South  Hold  of  New  Haven.  When  the 
river  towns  and  New  Haven  were  united  by  Win- 
throp's  charter  (October  9,  1662)  the  new  Colony  of 
Connecticut  claimed  authority  over  eastern  long 
Island.  After  the  English  conquest  of  Nieuw 
Nederlandt  Governor  Winthrop  formally  renounced 
the  claim,  but  the  people  were  by  no  means  willing 


238  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

to  give  up  the  congenial  Puritan  associations  for  a 
government  which  they  feared  would  introduce  the 
license  of  the  Court  of  Charles  II.  When  Manning 
ignominiously  yielded  to  the  returning  Dutch,  they 
again  attached  themselves  to  Connecticut  and  were 
fierce  in  their  resistance  to  the  re-establishment  of 
the  Dutch  power. 

After  the  Treaty  of  Westminster,  Southold  was 
still  as  anxious  to  remain  a  part  of  Connecticut  as 
Connecticut  was  eager  to  continue  her  authority. 
Finally,  seeing  the  determination  of  the  Governor 
of  New  York  to  force  their  allegiance,  they  con- 
sented to  receive  the  Overseers  appointed  by'  Andros. 
A  new  Patent  was  given  to  the  town,  and  it  came 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  New  York,  October  31, 
1676.  But  this  was  done  under  bitter  protest  and 
with  constant  contrast  of  the  freedom  Connecticut 
then  enjoyed  with  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  Duke 
of  York.  In  June,  1689,  during  the  revolutionary 
turmoil  in  New  York,  they  made  a  last  feeble  and 
fruitless  attempt  to  return  to  the  government  of 
Connecticut. 

The  first  Court  of  Sessions  of  which  the  records 
are  preserved,  was  held  March  4,  1669.  It  convened 
alternately  at  Southold  and  Southampton.  The  first 
court-house  for  Suffolk  County  was  built  at  River 
Head  in  1728.     Ten  years  later,  the  population  of 

'  To  Isaac  Arnold,  J. P.,  Samuel  Glovor, 

Jacob  Corey,  Barnabas  Horton, 

Joshua  Horton  Const,  Benjamin  Youngs. 

^  Capt.  John  Youngs. 
Two  months  later,  December  27,  1676,  they  transfer  the  Patent  to 
the  freemen  of  the  town. 


EASTHAMPTON.  239 

the  county  was  there  registered  as  "  Whites  and 
Blacks  males  and  females  above  and  under  the  age 
of  ten  years,  7,923." 

Fishing  and  sea-faring  were  early  the  chief  occu- 
pations of  the  Southold  men,  but  some  attention 
was  turned  in  other  directions.  In  1655,  the  Town 
Book  records  that  "  John  Tucker  of  Southold  has 
the  ability  to  make  steel,  and  desires  to  have  the 
privilege  of  taking  clay  and  wood  out  of  any  man's 
land."  In  1687,  Ezra  L'  Hommedieu,  of  Huguenot 
descent,  opened  a  store  at  Southold  village,  on  the 
Town  Harbour  Lane,  now  Main  Street.  The  town 
grew  in  the  slow,  conservative  way  characteristic  of 
Long  Island, — a  steady  advance,  but  in  seizing  the 
new  never  letting  go  the  old,  and  there  the  broad- 
roofed  old  houses  still  stand  to  speak  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

The  chieftain  of  the  Montauketts  was  called  the 
Grand  Sachem  of  Paumanacke.  His  supremacy  was 
acknowledged  by  the  lesser  chiefs  and  his  consent 
was  necessary  to  all  land  transfers.  So  it  was  that 
Wyandanch,  the  friend  of  Lion  Gardiner,  made  the 
conveyance  of  all  land  east  of  Southhampton  '  to 
"  the  worshipfull  Theophilus  Eaton  Esq.  Governor 
of  the  Colony  of  New  Haven,  and  the  worshipfull 
Edward  Hopkins,  Governour  of  the  Colony  of  Con- 
necticut and  their  Assotyats."  This  was  done  April 
29,  1648,  in  consideration  of  twenty  coats,  one  hun- 
dred  mucxes,'  twenty-four  looking-glasses,  and  as 

'  A  tract  of  about  thirty  thousand  acres.  The  articles  given  in 
payment  were  valued  at  £,2i<3  4.f.  8(/. 

^  Eel-spears. 


240  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

many  hoes  and  hatchets.  The  heirs  of  the  soil  re- 
served only  free  liberty  to  fish  in  all  the  creeks  "  and 
ponds  and  to  hunt  up  and  down  in  the  woods  with- 
out molestation,  giving  the  English  Inhabitants,  no 
just  cause  of  offence,  likewise  to  have  the  fynns  and 
tayles  of  all  whales  cast  up,  and  desire  they  may  be 
dealt  friendly  with  in  the  other  part.  .  .  .  Alsoe  to 
fish  for  shells  to  make  wampum  of,  and  if  Indyans 
in  hunting  deer  shal  chase  them  into  the  water  and 
the  English  shal  kill  them,  the  English  shal  have 
the  bodie  and  the  Indyans  the  skin." 

A  few  English  settlers '  came  from  Lynn  and 
established  themselves  on  the  site  of  the  quaint  old 
village  of  Easthampton,  and  to  them  the  Indian 
deed  was  transferred.  Of  the  thirty-five  original 
proprietors,  thirteen  family  names  had  become  ex- 
tinct in  Easthampton  a  century  ago,  although  from 
the  first  the  people  had  guarded  jealously  their 
alliances,  their  associates,"  and  the  acres  they  hoped 
to  transmit.  New  inhabitants  were  received  only 
by  the  "  Major  vote  "  of  the  town,  after  a  most  care- 
ful inquisition :  "  Every  man  who  shal  take  up  a 
lott  in  the  towne  shal  live  upon  it  himself  and  no 

'  John  Hand,  Sen.  '       Thos.  Thomson 

John  Stretton,  Sen.  Dan'l  Howe 

Thos.  Tallmadge,  Jun.  Joshua  Barnes 

Robert  Bond  Robert  Rose 

John  Mulford  Thos.  James. 

'  The  order  is  above  written  y'  noe  parson  or  parsons  y'  are 
strangers  shalbe  entertained  by  an  Inhabitant  of  this  towne  upon 
y=  penal  of  5  shillings  a  week  as  above  specified  in  June  13:  1678, 
and  it  is  nowtu  all  respects  renewed  &  in  force  againe  by  y'  Con- 
stable &  Overseers  of  y=  towne.  Book  O  p.  45. 
Apprill  26:  1679. 


ALLOTMENT  OF  LAND.  24I 

men  shal  sell  his  allottement  or  any  parte  thereof 
unlesse  it  be  to  suche  as  the  Towne  shal  approve 
of." 

It  is  said  that  even  now  an  Easthampton  man  may 
be  known  from  one  reared  in  Southampton,  as 
readily  as  a  native  of  Kent  is  distinguished  from  a 
man  born  in  Yorkshire,  the  English  counties  from 
which  the  two  towns  were  chiefly  settled.'  The 
planters  brought  with  them  from  their  brief  tarry  in 
Massachusetts  the  same  notions  of  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical polity  as  there  obtained.  Organised  as  a 
pure  democracy,  Easthampton  remained  an  inde- 
pendent commonwealth  until  1658.  In  its  first 
settlement,  a  home  lot  of  eight  or  ten  acres  adjoin- 
ing the  Town  Pond  was  laid  out  to  every  man. 
This  assignment  was  made  April  16,  165 1.  The 
unallotted  land  was  owned  in  common.  There  was 
no  common  arable  land,  but  open  fields  owned  in 
severalty  were  often  thus  cultivated,  as  is  shown  by 
laws  in  regard  to  fencing  and  the  trespass  of  cattle. 
The  woodlands  and  meadows  were  assigned  by  vote 
of  the  Town  Meeting.  Since  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  common  lands  have  been 
gradually  absorbed  by  individual  purchase.  There 
is,  however,  a  suggestive  survival  in  the  tacit  per- 
mission for  road-side  pasturage,  given  a  descendant 
of  the  first  planters,  while  no  such  right  would  be 
allowed  the  cow  of  a  recent  comer. 

The  laws  were  made  by  the  major  vote  of  the 
people  in  Town  Meeting  assembled,  and  from  them 

'  Hence  Maidstone,  the  early  name  of  the  town,  not  however 

adopted  until  after  the  English  conquest. 
16 


242  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

there  was  no  appeal,  although  the  Townsmen  some- 
times asked  advice  of  the  neighbouring  towns  of 
Southampton  and  Southold,  and  sometimes  of  the 
"  Gentlemen  at  Hartford."  The  cases  in  court  were 
usually  actions  for  slander,  for  not  even  the  fear  of 
a  cleft  stick  upon  the  tongue  controlled  that  unruly 
member. 

Easthampton  felt  great  alarm  in  1652-3  during 
the  fears  of  a  plot  between  the  Dutch  and  the 
Indians  against  the  English  incomers.  It  was  made 
penal  to  sell  an  Indian  arms,  ammunition,  or  "  more 
than  two  drams  of  strong  water  at  a  time."  The 
men  went  armed  to  church  under  "penaltieof  12- 
pence."  Guard  was  kept  with  orders  to  shoot  any 
Indian  who  did  not  surrender  when  hailed  the  third 
time.  When  Cromwell's  circular  asking  help  in  his 
proposed  expedition  against  "  the  Dutch  at  the  Man- 
hadoes "  was  received,  June  29,  1654,  the  Town 
Meeting  "  considered  the  letters  that  have  come 
from  Connecticut  wherein  men  are  required  to  assist 
the  pov/er  of  England  against  the  Dutch,  and  we 
doe  think  ourselves  called  to  assist  the  said  power." 
The  speedy  conclusion  of  peace  between  England 
and  Holland  prevented  the  opportunity  for  any 
such  action. 

On  March  19,  1658,  Easthampton  took  the  deci- 
sive step  which  made  her  for  ten  years  a  part  of  New 
England  :  "  It  is  ordered  and  agreed  upon  by  maior 
vote  that  Thomas  Baker  and  John  hand  goe  to  Ken- 
iticut  for  to  bring  us  under  their  jurisdiction."  The 
action  at  Hartford  was  as  follows  : 

"  May  3,  1658.     Whereas  formerly  some  overture 


UNDER  JURISDICTION  OF  CONNECTICUT.     243 

have  passed  between  the  General  Court  of  Connec- 
ticut, and  some  of  the  plantation  of  East  Hampton 
concerning  Union,  and  whereas  the  said  town  was 
entertained  and  accepted  at  a  session  thereof  on  the 
seventeenth  November  1649  and  have  after  divers 
yeares  of  farther  consideration,  againe  renewed  their 
desires  to  be  under  the  government  of  Connecticut 
.  .  .  it  is  agreed  between  the  saide  towne  of  East 
Hampton  that  they  joyne  themselves  to  the  said 
Jurisdiction  to  bee  subject  to  all  the  lawes  there 
established  according  to  the  Word  of  God  and  right 
reason." 

A  solemn  oath  of  allegiance  was  taken  to  the  new 
government :  "  I,  A.  B.,  an  inhabitant  of  East 
Hampton  by  the  providence  of  God,  combined 
with  the  Jurisdiction  of  Connecticut  doe  acknow- 
ledge myself  to  bee  subject  to  the  government  there- 
of and  doe  sweare  by  the  great  dreadefull  name  of 
the  Everlasting  God  to  bee  true  and  faithfull  to  the 
same,  and  to  submit  both  my  person  and  estate  there- 
unto according  to  all  the  wholesome  laws  &c.  &c." 

After  the  English  conquest  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt, 
Easthampton  was  stubbornly  reluctant  to  acknow- 
ledge the  Governors  of  New  York.  Dongan,  gener- 
ous man  and  just  ruler,  as  a  Catholic  was  specially 
disliked  by  the  Puritan  towns  of  Suffolk  County. 
Easthampton  sent  an  address  to  him  with  the  threat 
that  if  it  were  not  considered,  they  would  appeal  to 
their  "  most  gracious  Sovereign  and  prostrate  them- 
selves before  the  throne  of  his  unmatchable  justice 
and  clemency  where  we  doubt  not  to  find  releife  and 
restauration." 


244  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Soon  after,  as  recorded  in  the  Town  Book  of 
1685,'  Easthampton  asserted  boldly,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  our  State  of  New  York,  the  principle 
of  "  no  taxation  without  representation."  An  ad- 
dress is  made  October   i,    1685,  by  Thos.  James, 

John  Mulford,  Thos.  Tallmadge,  and  William 

"  To  the  Honourable  Governour,  his  Royal  High- 
ness, the  Duke  of  York,  the  humble  Address  of  the 
Inhabitants  of  the  Towne  of  East  Hampton  upon 
Long  Island  sheweth, 

"  Whereas  at  the  time  the  Government  of  New 
Yorke  was  established  under  our  Sovereign  Lord  ye 
King  by  Collonell  Richard  Nicolls  and  those  gentle- 
men sent  in  company  with  him,  wee  the  Inhabitants 
of  this  towne,  soe  well  as  the  reste  of  the  Island 
being  required,  sent  our  messengers  to  attend  theire 
Honors  and  then  both  by  word  and  writeing  wee 
were  promised  and  engaged  the  enjoyment  of  all 
Privileges  and  liberties  which  other  of  his  Majesty's 
subjects  doe  enjoy,  which  was  much  to  our  consent 
and  satisfaction.  Alsoe  after  this  being  required  by 
theise  his  Ma''^  Commissioners  to  send  upp  our 
Deputies  to  meete  at  Hempstede.  And  there  the 
whole  Island  being  Assembled  in  our  Representa- 
tion, wee  did  then  and  there  uppon  ye  renewall  of 
these  former  promises  of  our  freedom  and  liberties, 
grant  and  compact  with  ye  said  Collonell  Niccol's 
government  under  his  Royall  Highness.  That  wee 
would  allow  soe  much  out  of  our  estate  yeerly  as 

'  The  Records  of  Easthampton  are  copied  and  published  in  four 
volumes,  "  as  a  labour  of  love,"  which,  as  the  editors  add,  "  is  the 
only  spirit  in  which  history  can  be  written."    See  vol.  ii,,  pp.  169-72. 


"  PROHIBITED  OF  BIRTHRIGHT  FREEDOMES."      245 

might  defray  ye  charges  of  PubHcke  Justice  amongst 
us  &  for  KiUing  of  wollves  &c. 

"  But  may  it  please  your  Highness  to  understand 
that  since  yt  time  wee  are  deprived  and  prohibited 
of  our  Birthright  freedomes  and  Privilleges  to  which 
both  wee  and  our  Ancestors  were  borne  :  although 
wee  have  neither  forfeited  them  by  any  misdemean- 
our of  ours,  nor  have  at  any  time  bene  forbidden 
the  due  use  and  exercise  of  them  by  command  of 
our  gratious  King  yt  we  know.  And  as  yet  neither 
wee  nor  ye  reste  of  his  Ma"'^^  subjects  uppon  this 
IsIIand  have  bene  at  any  time  admitted  since  then 
to  enjoy  a  general!  and  free  Assembly  by  our  Rep- 
resentatives, as  other  of  his  Ma''*^  subjects  have  had 
the  privilege  ofl.  But  Lawes  and  orders  have  bene 
imposed  uppon  us  from  time  to  time  without  our 
consent,  and  therein  wee  are  totally  deprived  of  a 
Fundamental  Privillege  of  our  English  nation.  To- 
gether with  ye  obstruction  of  Trafficke  &  negotia- 
tion with  other  of  his  Ma""  subjects,  so  yt  wee  are 
become  very  unlike  all  other  coUoneys  &  Jurisdic- 
tions here  in  America  and  cannot  but  much  resent 
our  greivance  in  this  respect  &  remaine  discouraged 
with  respect  to  ye  settle-ment  of  ourselves  and  pos- 
teritie  after  us.  Yet  all  this  time  payments  &  per- 
formance of  what  have  bene  Imposed  uppon  us, 
have  not  bene  omitted  on  our  parts,  although  ye 
Performance  of  one  Promised  Privilleges  aforesaid 
have  bene  wholly  unperformed.  And  what  payments 
from  yeer  to  yeer  this  many  yeres  hath  been  made 
Use  off  to  other  purposes  than  att  first  they  were 
granted  for  and  intended  by  us  so  yt  wee  cannot  but 


246  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

feare  iff  ye  Publicke  affaires  of  government  shall 
continue  in  this  manner  as  they  have  bene  lest  our 
freedom  be  turned  into  Bondage  and  our  antient 
Privilleges  so  infringed  yt  they  shall  never  arrive  att 
our  posteritie.  And  wee  ourselves  may  be  justlie, 
highly  culpable  before  his  Ma''^  for  our  subjection 
to  and  supporting  such  a  government,  constituted 
so  contrarie  to  ye  fundamentall  Lawes  of  England : 
It  being  a  principall  part  of  his  Ma''^'  Antient  and  just 
government  to  rule  over  a  free  people  endowed  with 
many  privileges  above  others  &  not  over  bond  men 
oppressed  by  Arbitrarie  Impositions  and  executions." 

The  spirit  herein  evinced  was  intensified  a  genera- 
tion later  in  the  vigorous  protests  of  Samuel  Mulford 
of  Easthampton.  He  was  one  of  those  who  had 
struggled  most  persistently  against  the  separation 
from  Connecticut.  First  elected  in  1705,  the  Deputy 
from  Suffolk  to  the  General  Assembly  in  New  York, 
for  many  years  he  kept  up  an  animated  controversy 
with  the  Assembly  and  the  Governor  relative  to 
finance  and  the  disbursement  of  the  revenue.  He 
addressed  to  the  Governor  a  memorial,  which  be- 
gins with  the  grave  formality  of  the  time,  and 
" Sheweth : 

"  When  the  enemies  of  the  Nation  had  by  their 
wicked  Councils  and  trayterous  Intreagues  brought 
our  Nation  to  the  very  Brink  of  being  swallowed  up 
by  Popish  Superstition  and  Arbitrary  Government,  it 
hath  pleased  the  Almighty  God  by  his  wonderful 
Omnipotence  to  bring  on  Peace  and  settle  his  most 
Sacred  Majesty  King  George  upon  the  BRITISH 
throne,"  etc. 


SAMUEL  MULFORD  AT  COURT.  247 

The  paper  is  a  careful  summary  of  the  population 
and  property  of  the  various  counties,  and  of  the  un- 
equal taxation  and  inadequate  representation,  from 
which  they  had  suffered."     It  ends  with  a 

"  Quaere,  Is  the  Government  carried  on  for  his 
Majesties  Benefit  and  the  Good  of  his  subjects  ac- 
cording to  the  Lawes  and  Customs  of  the  Colony, 
and  according  to  the  English  Government,  or,  is  it 
Arbitrary,  Illegal,  Grievous,  Oppressive,  Unjust  and 
Destructive?" 

It  was  not  until  1716  that  Governor  Hunter  could 
so  influence  elections  as  to  convoke  an  Assembly 
whose  majority  was  in  his  favour.  The  main  point 
at  issue  had  been  the  duty  on  whales.  The  Gov- 
ernor demanded  a  tax  of  ten  per  cent,  on  all  oil. 
Mulford  resolved  on  a  direct  appeal  to  the  Crown, 
and  secretly  went  to  Boston,  thence  to  sail  for  Eng- 
land. He  appeared  at  Court  in  homespun,  there  to 
state  his  case.  A  "  Memorial  of  several  aggriev- 
ances  and  oppressions  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  in 
the  Colony  of  New  York  in  America,"  was  written 
by  him,  and  distributed  in  person  at  the  doors  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  It  excited  much  attention  as 
a  "  bold  denunciation  of  the  usurpations  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  maladministration  of  its  functions,  a 
charge  of  burdensome  taxes,  &c.,"  but  it  does  not 
appear  to  have  influenced  the  colonial  legislation  in 
any  particular  way. 

When  Governor  Hunter  knew  of  Mulford's  depart- 
ure for  England,  he  wrote  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  : 

>  See  this  most  interesting  memorial  in  the  Documentary  History 
of  New  York,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  363-7 '■ 


248  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  I  must  do  the  Province  the  justice  to  assure  you 
he  is  the  only  mutineer  within  it.  He  has  in  all  ad- 
ministrations during  his  life  flown  in  the  face  of  the 
government  and  ever  disputed  with  the  crown  the 
right  of  whale  fishery."  Elsewhere,  Hunter  calls 
him  "  that  poor  cracked  man,  Mulford."  The  con- 
temporary estimate  of  any  agitator,  even  by  his 
friends,  is  seldom  a  just  one,  and  the  memory  of 
men  like  the  Easthampton  protestant  may  well  be 
left  to  a  more  discriminating  future. 

The  first  Meeting-house  was  built  in  1652,  twenty- 
six  by  thirty  feet,  thatched  with  straw.  It  was 
replaced  in  1717  by  a  structure  called  the  finest 
building  on  Long  Island.  Those  were  the  days  of 
long  pastorates,  and  the  founder  of  "  The  Society," 
the  Reverend  Thomas  James,  remained  in  ofifice 
until  his  death  in  1696.'  He  was  followed  by  Na- 
thaniel Huntting,  and  he,  in  1746,  by  Dr.  Buel,  a 
pupil  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  who  was  replaced  in 
1798  by  Lyman  Beecher.  Stirring  sermons  issued 
from  that  old  pulpit  from  the  days  of  the  first  pastor 
down.     For  more  than  a  century  and  a  half  its  oc- 

'  He  is  buried  in  Easthampton  under  a  stone  bearing  the  inscription : 

MR. 

THOMAS 

lAMES  DYED 

YE   16  DAY   OF 

IVNE   IN  TE 

YEARS   l6g6.      HE 

WAS   MINISTRE 

OF  TE  GOSPELL 

AND   PASTVRE 

OF  YE  CHVRCH 

OF  CHRIST. 


EASTHAMPTON  PASTORS.  249 

cupants  were  men  of  the  most  positive  and  even 
aggressive  character,  and  of  unusual  intellectual 
force.  Mr.  James  was  more  than  once  arraigned  for 
sedition.  In  1686,  the  people  made  an  angry  protest 
against  the  action  of  the  High  Sheriff  in  laying  out 
parts  of  the  Common  Land — the  arable  mark,  to 
persons  who  had  complained  of  receiving  no  allot- 
ment. While  the  excitement  was  at  its  height,  Mr. 
James  preached  from  Job  xxiv. :  2,  and  the  curses 
invoked  upon  him  who  removed  his  neighbour's 
landmarks  were  given  an  application  to  the  exist- 
ing trouble  much  resented  by  the  civil  authorities.' 

Dr.  Buell,  a  scholar  and  a  sportsman,  was  during 
the  Revolution  a  most  determined  Whig,  but  still,  a 
warm  personal  friend  of  Governor  Tryon  and  Sir 
William  Erskine.  At  one  time  the  latter  had  or- 
dered certain  military  operations  to  be  performed  on 
Sunday.  The  order  was  not  obeyed,  and  on  inquiry 
into  the  reasons  therefor,  Dr.  Buell  replied,  "  I  am 
commander  of  this  people  on  that  day,  and  have 
countermanded  the  order." 

The  first  schoolmaster  of  Easthampton,  Charles 
Barnes,  died  in  1663.  He  had  received  a  salary  of 
thirty  pounds.  He  was  followed  by  one  Peter 
Remsen.  The  Clinton  Academy,  founded  by  Dr. 
Buell,  was  opened  in  1784.  Chartered  the  same  day 
as  Erasmus  Hall,  Flushing,  the  two  are  the  oldest 
academies  in  the  State.  The  first  principal  was  Wil- 
liam Paine,"  whose  prospectus  announces  that  "  the 

'  See  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  354-59- 
^  A  descendant  of  Thomas  Paine  of  Eastham,  founder  of  "the 
Cape  Family,"  and  the  father  of  John  Howard  Payne.     The  vine- 


2SO  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

utmost  attention  will  be  given  to  establish  such 
plans  of  discipline  as  will  fix  the  attention  and  win 
the  compliance  of  the  pupils,  while  they  inform  the 
mind,  improve  the  manners  and  rectify  the  heart." 
Of  the  exhibition  of  the  school,  held  a  year  later, 
there  remains  a  contemporary  report  :  "  Fifty 
youths,  of  whom  there  were  not  five  whose  accom- 
plishments would  not  be  an  ornament  to  the  Pulpit 
and  the  Bar.  What  is  remarkable,  is  the  number  of 
young  ladies  who  presented  themselves  with  the 
ease  and  elegance  of  an  Assembly  Room,  and  the 
elocution  of  a  theatre." 

Easthampton  grew  rapidly  as  growth  was  then 
counted,  and  forty  years  after  Wyandanch's  deed,  its 
population  was  thus  enumerated. 

"Jan.  the  I2th  i68f 

"  To  the  Sheriffe  in  obedience  to  his  warrant  the 
number  of  male  persons,  men  and  children  is  twoe 
hundred  and  twenty-three  ....  223 

"  The  number  of  famals  women  and  children  is 
twoe  hundred  and  nineteene       .         .         .         .219 

"  The  number  of  male  servants  is  twenty-six  .  026 

"  famal      "         "  nine  .        .  009 

"  "       "  male   slaves      "  eleven        .  on 

"  famale     "         "  fourteen    .  014 

"  And  out  of  the  Account  above,  the  number  of 
such  as  are  Capable  to  beare  arms  is  ninety-eight  of 
which  in  the  liste  of  the  ffoot  company  is  aughty 
indifferently  well-armed,  exercised  four  timesayeare 
according  to  Law. 

covered  house  in  which  the  lyrist  was  born,  still  stands  in  the  wide 
elm-shaded  street  of  Easthampton. 


HUNTING  TON.  2  5 1 

"  The  number  of  merchaunts  is  twoe 

"  "         "  marriages  for  seven  yeares  past  is 

twenty-eight. 

"  The  number  of  births  for  seven  years  past  is 
one  hundred  and  sixteene  of  which  there  are  chris- 
tened one  hundred  and  aught. 

"  The  number  of  burials  for  seven  years  past  is 
fifty-seven. 

"  Wee  find  noe  arrears  due  to  his  Ma''^-  And  for 
Land  held  by  Pattent  we  refer  you  to  our  Pattent, 
being  Ignorant  what  to  doe  on  that  account  and 
cannot  give  account  any  other  ways  for  the  present." 

A  deed  of  the  Neck  separating  Huntington  Bay 
from  Smithtown  Bay  was  given  by  the  Indians  to 
Theophilus  Eaton  in  1646.  But  no  actual  settlers 
came  within  the  limits  of  Huntington  before  1653. 
A  deed '  of  six  square  miles  between  Cold  Spring 
and  Northport  was  then  given  for  six  coats,  ten 
hatchets,  ten  knives,  six  bottles,  thirty  needles,  six 
mucxes,  and  six  fathoms  of  wampum.  No  other 
records  are  earlier  than  1657.  The  first  minutes  of 
a  Town  Meeting  are  in  1659. 

The  people  came  in  three  distinct  parties.  First, 
were  the  followers  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Leveridge, 
coming  from  New  Haven,  Branford,  and  thereabouts. 
These  settled  along  the  valley  on  "  The  Old  Town 
Spot."  An  offshoot  of  the  Hempstead  Colony  and 
men  from  Southold  and  Southampton  made  up  the 
number  of  the  early  settlers. 

'  Given  by  Ratiocan,  the  Sagamore  of  Martinnecock  to  Richard 
Houlbrook,  Robard  Williams,  and  Daniel  Whitehead. 


252  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

The  history  of  the  planting  of  Huntington  is  in 
modified  form  that  of  the  Eastern  towns.  All  asso- 
ciations, civil,  ecclesiastical,  or  social,  were  with  New 
England  rather  than  with  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  In 
1658,  application  was  made  to  be  annexed  to  the 
New  Haven  Colony,'  and  Jonas  Wood,  H.  (Halifax) 
and  Jonas  Wood,  0km  (Oakham)  were  sent  to  New 
Haven  to  make  the  negotiation.  It  was  agreed  that 
Huntington  should  be  received  on  the  same  terms 
as  Southold,  but  for  some  reason  the  transaction  was 
not  completed.  Finally,  the  connection  made  was 
thus  recorded  in  the  Town  Book : 

"  10  Appril,  1660  in  Town  Meeting  put  to  vote  con- 
serning  joyning  to  a  jeurisdiction.  The  major  vote 
was  for  to  be  under  Coneticot  jeurisdiction."  Two 
years  later,  Huntington  is  sending  deputies  to  the 
General  Court  at  Hartford. 

A  Committee  was  early  appointed  to  examine  into 
the  character  of  all  persons  proposing  to  settle  in 
the  new  town.  Slander  and  trespass  were  the  most 
serious  cases  on  the  records  of  the  Court.  All  trade 
was  by  the  primitive  methods  of  barter,  and  assess- 
ors were  appointed  to  fix  the  value  of  cattle  and  of 
farm  produce.' 

When   the  cattle  pastured  on  the  common  field 

•  This  was  at  the  General  Court  held  May  26, 1658.     See  Hoadley's 
Colonial  Records  of  New  Haven,  vol.  ii. ,  p.  236. 
'  February  16,  1684,  is  the  following  rate  : 

"  Good  Merchantabell  winter  whet  at  4  sh.  ye  bushell. 
"  "  somer     "  3  s.  6d. 

"  "  Indian  come   2 

"  "  porke  2d.  the  lb. 

"  "  long  whallbone        6d.      " 


PROTECTION  OF  THE    WHALE  FISHERY.     253 

were  herded  at  night,  they  were  driven  home  and 
tethered  near  the  Watch-Tower,  a  rude  fort  on  the 
Village  Green,  the  "  Town-Spot"  proper.  Hard  by 
was  the  Sheep-Washing  Brook,  and  the  Meeting- 
house Brook.  There  the  first  church  was  built  in 
1665.  On  the  hill  which  rose  above  the  Town  Spot 
was  the  first  burial-ground  still  preserving  stones 
which  reach  back  to  the  second  generation  of  settlers. 
In  1660,  a  schoolhouse  was  built  near  "  The  Goose 
Green."  The  first  schoolmaster  had  been  engaged 
three  years  earlier. 

Caumsett,  or  Horse  Neck,  later  Lloyd's  Neck, 
was  deeded  to  Samuel  Mayo,  Daniel  Whitehead,  and 
Peter  Wright  in  1654.  It  had  been  included  in  the 
Huntington  Patent  and  long  litigation  ensued  until, 
after  an  independent  manorial  existence  of  more  than 
a  century,  it  was  finally  set  off  to  Oyster  Bay  in  1788. 
The  township  of  Huntington  was  incorporated  by 
Governor  Nicoll,  November  i,  1666. 

Extending  to  the  South  Beach,  Huntington  had 
her  rights  in  the  drift-whales  and  in  fisheries  to  de- 
fend, rights  carefully  guarded  in  the  town  legisla- 
tion : '  "April  12,  1671.  Ordered  and  agreed  that  no 
foreigner  or  person  of  any  other  town  upon  this 
island  shall  have  liberty  to  kill  whales,  or  other 
small  fish  within  the  limits  of  our  bounds  at  the 
South  Side  of  the  Island.  Neither  shall  any  inhab- 
itant give  leave  to  such  foreigner,  or  other  town's 

'  The  Trustees  named  in  the  patent  were  : 

Jonas  Wood,  Thomas  Skidmore, 

Wm.  Leveredge,  Isaac  Piatt, 

Robert  Seely,  Thomas  Jones, 

John  Ketcham,  Thomas  Weeks. 


254  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

inhabitant  whereby  the  Company  of  Whalemen  may 
■be  damnified  except  such  foreigner  come  into  the 
said  company  as  a  half-share-man."  The  Governor 
received  one-fifteenth  the  oil  from  all  whales  cast  on 
shore.  The  right  of  drift-whales  was  a  privilege 
bought  and  sold  in  all  the  Eastern  Towns. 

Security  came  with  longer  abode  in  the  new  Town- 
spot.  In  1680  it  was  "voted  by  the  Major  part  of 
the  town  that  Mr.  Jones  should  have  the  ffort  to 
make  firewood  of."  The  Reverend  Eliphalet  Jones 
was  the  successor  of  Mr.  William  Leveredge,  the  first 
minister  of  the  town.  He  was  chosen  by  a  unani- 
mous vote  at  Public  Training,  and  was  the  preacher 
from  1677  until  his  death  in  1731  at  the  age  of 
ninety-three.  Ebenezer  Prime  had  been  chosen  as 
his  assistant,  and  he  remained  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Huntington  for  sixty  years,  dying  in 
1779. 

The  entries  in  the  Town  Books  have  the  flavour 
of  a  primitive  frontier  life.  One  finds  an  ordinance 
against  keeping  geese  which  are  "  prejedittial  to  the 
towne  because  ye  sheepe  do  not  keepe  in  ye  streetes 
as  formerly,  but  Run  ye  woods  whereby  they  are 
more  exposed  to  be  devoured  by  the  wolves :  be- 
cause they  cannot  abide  to  feed  where  ye  geese  do 
keepe."  Wolves,  wildcats,  and  deer  were  many  in 
the  rugged  glens  among  the  Dix  Hills  and  the  West 
Hills,  or  in  the  wild  ravines  running  down  to  the 
Bay. 

It  is  not  certain  whether  the  name  of  Hunting 
Town,  or  Hunting,  as  sometimes  written,  was  given 
from  the  abundance  of  game,  or  from  the  family 


BROOK  HA  VEN.  255 

of  Huntting,  a  leading  one  in  Southampton,  some 
members  of  whom  were  among  the  early  settlers. 
The  forms  of  Huntting's  Town  and  Hunttingtown 
are  sometimes  seen,  and  give  weight  to  this  opinion. 
The  name  is  also  written  as  Huntingdon.  The  first 
patent  was  taken  in  the  very  month  in  which  Crom- 
well dissolved  the  Long  Parliament,  a  movement 
with  which  the  planters  were  in  close  sympathy. 
The  town  may  hence  have  been  named  from  the 
birthplace  of  the  great  Protector,  a  tribute  easily  for- 
gotten or  purposely  neglected  after  the  Restoration. 

The  Town  Book  of  1685  fixes  "The  Turkes 
Ratte,"  a  tax  levied  toward  the  ransom  of  the  Eng- 
lish prisoners  taken  by  Algerine  pirates.  This  is  a 
noteworthy  instance  of  how,  early  in  her  history, 
the  sympathies  of  America  began  to  flow  East  and 
West — the  world  over. 

In  1741,  Huntington  complained  much  of  the  dif- 
ficulty and  hardships  in  attending  Courts  at  River 
Head.  It  petitioned  the  colonial  government  to  be 
annexed  to  Queen's  County,  or  otherwise,  that  it 
might  be  included  in  a  new  county,  to  be  formed 
with  Brookhaven,  Smithtown,  and  Islip.  No  action 
was  taken  thereon,  and  four  times  a  year  the  towns- 
people continued  to  journey  over  the  imperfect 
roads,  or  to  follow  an  Indian  trail  to  the  County 
Assizes. 

The  lands  of  Brookhaven  belonged  on  the  South 
Shore  to  the  Pochaug  Indians,  and  on  the  north  to 
the  Setaukets.  From  the  latter,  the  lands  were 
bought  by  the  first  settlers,  who  came  from  Boston 


256  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

in  1655.  They  settled  at  Setauket,  naming  the 
place  Ashford,  and  calling  the  harbour  Cromwell 
Bay.  In  danger  both  from  the  Dutch  and  the  In- 
dians, by  each  of  whom  they  were  regarded  as 
intruders,  in  1659,  they  petitioned  the  General  Court 
of  Connecticut  to  take  them  under  its  protection. 
After  two  years  of  correspondence  and  deliberation, 
it  was  agreed  at  Hartford  to  accept  "  the  plantation 
of  Setauk  "  on  the  same  articles  of  confederation  as 
were  granted  Southhampton.  The  union  was  of 
brief  duration,  although  the  Duke's  government  was 
never  welcome.'  Colonel  Nicoll's  Patent  of  Confir- 
mation was  granted  March  7,  1666,  giving  to  the 
settlement  the  privileges  of  a  township. 

The  year  before,  Brookhaven  had  appeared  at  the 
Court  of  Assize  in  New  York  in  a  case  unique  in  the 
criminal  annals  of  our  State."  Ralph  Hall  and  his 
wife  Mary,  of  "  Sealtacott,"  were  charged  with  hav- 
ing "  by  some  detestable  and  wicked  acts,  commonly 
called  witchcraft  and  sorcery,  procured  the  death  of 
one  George  Wood,  and  the  infant  child  of  Ann 
Rogers,  widdow  of  ye  aforesaid  George  Wood."  A 
solemn  indictment  was  read  by  "  the  clarke,"  to 
which  they  pleaded  not  guilty.  The  jury,  of  which 
Jacob  Leister  was  one,  did  not  agree ;  the  accused 
were  put  under  bonds  for  good  behaviour,  and  par- 
doned by  Governor  NicoU  within  two  years. 

'  In  1664,  a  Brookhaven  man  was  put  into  the  stocks  for  saying, 
"  The  King  was  none  of  his  king,  nor  the  Governor,  his  governor." 

'^  In  1657,  the  wife  of  Joshua  Garlick,  of  Easthampton,  had  been 
arrested  on  suspicion  of  witchcraft.  The  Town  Court  felt  incapable 
of  dealing  with  such  a  case,  and  it  was  referred  to  the  General  Court 
at  Hartford. 


THE  MEETING-HOUSE.  257 

The  first  Meeting-house  was  built  in  1671,  its  site 
being  chosen  by  a  "  Providential  lott."  The  Rev- 
erend Nathaniel  Brewster,  nephew  of  Elder  Brewster 
of  the  Mayflower,  had  already  been  in  the  town  for 
several  years.  Mr.  Brewster  was  one  of  the  first 
class  graduated  by  Harvard  College  in  1642.  With 
most  of  his  classmates  he  had  gone  to  England  to 
enjoy  in  their  old  home  the  Hberty  of  thought  al- 
lowed during  the  Civil  Wars  and  the  Common- 
wealth. After  the  Restoration,  he,  with  others, 
returned  to  America.  He  came  to  Brookhaven  in 
1665,  and  remained  their  pastor  for  about  twenty 
years.  In  1687,  the  Town  Meeting  voted  to  "build 
a  house  the  same  dimensions  as  Jonathan  Smith's, 
to  remain  a  Parsonage  house  to  all  perpetuity."  At 
a  Town  Meeting  in  1703  the  following  action  is 
taken : 

"  Whereas  there  have  been  severall  rude  actions 
of  late  happened  in  our  church  by  reason  of  the 
people  not  being  seated,  which  is  much  to  the  dis- 
honour of  God,  and  the  discouragement  of  virtue. 
For  preventing  the  like  again,  it  is  ordered  that  the 
Inhabitants  be  seated  after  manner  and  form  follow- 
ing. All  freeholders  that  have,  or  shall  within  the 
month  subscribe  to  pay  40  shillings  to  Mr.  Phillips 
toward  his  sallary,  shall  be  seated  at  the  table,  and 
that  no  women  are  permitted  to  sit  there,  except  Col. 
Smith's  Lady,  nor  any  woman-kind :  and  that  the 
President  for  the  time  shall  set  in  the  right-hand 
seat  under  the  pulpit,  and  the  Clerk  on  the  left ;  the 
trustees  in  the  front  seat,  and  the  Justices  that  are 
Inhabitants   of  the   Town  shall   set   at    the    table 


258  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

whether  they  pay  40  shillings  or  less.  And  pew 
No  :  I  all  such  persons  as  shall  subscribe  20  shillings ; 
the  pew  No :  2  such  as  shall  subscribe  10  shillings ; 
No  :  4,  8  shillings,  No :  7,  for  the  young  men ;  No : 
8,  for  boys  ;  No :  9  for  the  ministers  widows  and 
wives  and  for  such  women  wTiose  husbands  shall 
pay  40  shillings  to  set  according  to  their  age  ;  No  : 
II  for  those  men's  wives  that  pay  from  20  to  15 
shillings;  No:  12  for  men's  wives  that  pay  from  10 
to  15  shillings.  The  alley  between  the  pews  to  be 
for  such  maids  whose  parents  or  selves  shall  pay  for 
two,  6  shillings ;  No:  13  for  maids.  No:  14  for  girls, 
and  No  :  15  free  for  any." 

The  first  Episcopal  Church  on  Long  Island  was 
built  at  Setauket  in  1730.  It  still  stands  upon  the 
village  height,  overlooking  the  beautiful  harbour, 
with  blue  glimpses  of  the  Sound  between  Crane's 
Neck  and  Oldfield  Point.  Caroline  Church — no 
nobler  memorial  has  Caroline  of  Brandenburgh  than 
this  little  chapel,  to  which  the  Queen  sent  silver 
patens  and  chalice,  fair  linen,  and  books  for  its  sim- 
ple altar.'  The  church  is  thirty-four  by  fifty  feet  in 
dimensions,  built  with  an  architectural  grace  at 
that  time  rare  in  the  New  World.  The  windows 
of  the  nave  have  rounded  arches  ;  a  cruciform  win- 
dow is  in  the  chancel.  The  weather-vane  is  still  the 
English  flag.  The  church  was  repaired  in  18 14,  but 
retains  its  original  features. 

Brookhaven  was  the  township  of  great  family 
estates.     The   aristocratic    conservatism  of  western 

'  These  gifts  were  stolen  during  the  Revolution  by  marauders  from 
"  the  Christian  shore,"  as  the  Independents  called  Connecticut. 


THE   TANGIER  BOOK.  2$g 

Suffolk  was  here  at  its  best.  Here  were  the  Floyd 
lands,  descending  from  Richard  Floyd  of  Wales, 
the  first  patentee  ;  stretching  westward,  well  into 
Islip,  was  the  NicoU  domain  of  a  hundred  square 
miles,  handed  down  from  Matthias  Nicoll,  the  first 
Secretary  of  the  Province  of  New  York.'  In  1786 
Colonel  William  Smith,  whose  public  life  began  as 
a  page  in  the  Court  of  the  Merrie  Monarch,  some- 
time Governor  of  Tangier,  and  later  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Province,  bought  Little  Neck  and  lands  to  the 
Eastward,'  which  in  1693  were  erected  into  the  Manor 
of  Saint  George.  The  family  founded  '  was  one  of 
wide  influence  in  colonial  history.  "  Col.  Smith's 
Lady,"  to  whom  had  been  given  a  seat  "  at  the 
table  "  in  the  old  Meeting-house,  was  Martha  Tuns- 
tall  of  Surrey.  Known  throughout  Long  Island  as 
Madam  Smith,  she  seems  to  have  been  a  most  nota- 
ble housewife  as  well  as  stately  chatelaine.  She 
bargained  sharply  for  her  share  of  the  drift-whales, 
and  looked  closely  to  the  ways  of  her  household. 
In  Tke  Tangier  Book,  a  manuscript  volume  of  family 
history,  written  by  Colonel  Smith,  are  many  entries 
in  her  hand,  curious  recipes,  and  many  a  valuable 
direction  for  the  simple  domestic  economy  of  the 
day. 

^  His  son,  his  grandson,  and  his  great-grandson,  each  bearing  the 
name  of  William  Nicoll,  represented  Suffolk  in  the  Colonial  Assem- 
bly in  uninterrupted  succession  from  1701-75. 

'  Lord  Bellamont  wrote  to  the  Board  of  Trade  in  i6gg  :  "Col. 
Smith's  grant  runs  50  miles  in  length  on  Long  Island  with  an  infinite 
no:  of  goodly  pines  for  pitch-tar  &  rozen." 

°  Known  as  the  Tangier-Smiths  in  distinction  from  the  Bull-Smiths 
of  Smithtown,  and  the  Rock-Smiths  of  Hempstead. 


26o  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

Smithtown  is  the  only  one  of  the  old  towns  that 
was  not  organised  while  the  banner  of  the  Nether- 
lands waved  from  the  flagstaff  of  Fort  Amsterdam. 
In  1659  Wyandanch  had  given  a  large  tract  of  land 
within  its  future  limits  to  Lion  Gardiner  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  rescue  of  the  Sachem's  daughter.  The 
gift  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  the  Nessaquogue 
Indians,  along  whose  beautiful  river  lay  most  of  the 
land.  In  1663  Gardiner  sold  his  claims  to  Major 
Richard  Smith,  the  Bull-rider,  who  bought  from  the 
Indians  more  land  to  the  southward.  The  town  was 
first  patented  in  1677.  Its  early  records  are  lost,  no 
minutes  of  the  Town  Meetings  before  1715  being 
preserved. 

Major  Smith,  one  of  Cromwell's  soldiers,'  had 
been  a  freeholder  of  Brookhaven,  owning  a  house 
and  lot  at  Setaukett  in  1657.  On  his  purchase  of 
this  land,  he  came  to  Smithfield,  as  the  region  was 
long  called.  Just  where  the  Horserace  Lane  joins 
the  Nessaquogue  River  Road,  an  overgrown  hollow 
in  the  ground,  and  a  few  old  fruit  trees,  mark  the 
site  of  his  first  house.  On  the  hill  above,  beneath 
gnarled  cedars  and  a  crumbling  willow,  are  the  graves 
of  the  patriarch  and  his  earliest  descendants.  With 
his  seven  sons,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  develop- 
ment of  his  domain  of  thirty  thousand  acres,  one 
of  the  most  fertile  and  picturesque  regions  on  the 
Island,  and  there  his  posterity  still  hold  the  domi- 
nant influence. 

'  His  favourite  musket,  "  Old  Crib,"  a  relic  of  Marston  Moor  and 
of  Naseby,  still  hangs  in  the  ancestral  mansion  of  one  of  his  de- 
scendants. 


XII. 


DUTCH  AND  ENGLISH   CLAIMS  TO   LONG  ISLAND. 


THE  early  history  of  Long  Island  cannot  be  told 
without  constant  consideration  of  the  respec- 
tive claims  of  the  Dutch  and  of  the  English 
to  the  Island,  first  discovered  as  such  by  the  Holland 
schipper  Adrian  Block.  Its  possession  was  the  cause 
of  a  long-standing  quarrel  which  grew  naturally  out 
of  the  short-sighted,  open-handed  way  in  which 
kings  and  councils  disposed  of  the  New  World. '  The 
patent  to  the  Plymouth  Company  extended  beyond 
'T  Zuydt  Rivier  of  the  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  The  lat- 
ter grant  to  Lord  Sterling  was  for  "  the  County  of 
Canada  and  Long  Island."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Dutch  rested  on  their  right  of  discovery,  not  merely 
by  Hudson,  Block,  and  their  fellows  in  actual  land- 
fall upon  the  disputed  coasts,  but  by  the  great 
Genoese  himself,  inasmuch  as  they  had  been  the 
subjects  of  the  royal  house  under  which  Columbus 
sailed,  and  by  which  the  first  colonies  in  America 
were  planted.  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  with  Curagoa  and 
more  distant  dependencies,  had  been  conveyed  by 

261 


262  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

full  title  from  Philip  to  the  United  Nederlands  when 
they  achieved  their  independence  of  Spain.' 

The  Hollanders  held  that  their  right  extended 
eastward  as  far  as  Cape  Cod,  the  Malabarre  of  the 
old  charts,  and  they  attempted  the  occupation  of 
the  country  to  'T  Verssche  Rivier.  There,  they 
built  in  1633,  on  the  site  of  Hartford,  a  trading  post, 
"  'T  Huys  de  Hoop,"  only  to  be  dispossessed  by  the 
Massachusetts  in-comers,  the  men  from  Watertown, 
who  planted  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Windsor. 

As  early  as  1627,  there  was  much  friendly  corre- 
spondence between  the  governors  of  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt  and  of  Plymouth.  Governor  Bradford  wrote 
to  Peter  Minnit,  "  Our  children  after  us  shall  never 
forget  the  good  and  courteous  entreaty  which  we 
found  in  your  country,  and  shall  desire  your  pros- 
perity." But  he  goes  on  to  say  that  the  English 
Patent  extended  to  40°,  within  which  the  Dutch  are 
forbidden  to  plant,  or  to  trade.  Minuit  replied  that 
his  authority  is  from  the  States  of  Holland,  and  that 
therewith  he  shall  defend  the  Dutch  occupation. 
In  October  of  the  same  year,  Isacq  de  Rasiferes  was 
sent  on  a  friendly  mission  to  New  Plymouth,  and 

'  Their  modern  historians  still  repeat  these  claims.  The  Chevalier 
Lambrechtsen,  writing  a  history  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt  in  i8r8,  says  : 
' '  Even  Long  Island,  separated  by  the  East  River  from  the  continent, 
and  without  any  question  first  discovered  and  settled  by  the  Nether- 
landers  ;  yea,  as  they  declare,  bought  from  the  Indians  and  adorned 
with  several  Netherland  villages  and  forts,  was  a  fertile  country  and 
blessed  with  good  harbours.  So  favourable  a  situation,  so  desira- 
ble for  fishery,  was  alluring  to  the  English.  Thus  several  of  them 
settled  on  the  East  of  the  Island,  building  the  villages  of  Southampton 
and  Southold,  for  which  they  afterward  claimed  half  the  Island." 


REFERENCE  TO  THE  PO  WERS  A  T  HOME.     263 

Bradford,  in  confidence,  advised  the  Dutch  to  "  clear 
their  title." 

A  few  years  later,  John  Winthrop,  writing  in  his 
Journal,  October  2,  1633,  of  the  return  of  the  Bless- 
ing of  the  Bay  from  its  southward  cruise,  says: 
"They  were  also  at  the  Dutch  plantation  upon 
Hudson's  River  (called  New  Netherlands)  where 
they  were  kindly  entertained,  and  had  some  beaver 
and  other  things  for  such  commodities  as  they  put 
off.  They  showed  the  Governour  Gwalter  van 
Twilly  their  Commission  which  was  to  signify  to 
them  that  the  King  of  England  had  granted  the 
River  and  Country  of  the  Connecticut  to  his  own 
subjects  and  therefore  desired  them  to  forbeare  to 
build  there  &c.  The  Dutch  Governour  wrote  back 
to  our  Governour  (his  letter  was  very  courteous  and 
respectful  as  if  to  a  very  honourable  person)  whereby 
he  signifies  that  the  Lords  of  the  States  have  also 
granted  the  same  parts  to  the  West  India  Company, 
and  therefore  requested  that  we  would  forbeare  the 
same  until  the  matter  was  decided  between  the  King 
of  England  and  the  said  Lords."  ' 

The  Massachusetts  immigrants  nevertheless  soon 
pressed  southward  and  attempted  the  planting  of 
'T  Lange  Eylandt.  As  has  been  said,  all  the  Eng- 
lish settlements  were  of  New  England  origin ;  not 
one  of  them  was  directly  from  home.  Naturally, 
then,  the  civil  and  religious  polity  of  Connecticut 
and  the  Bay  Colony  was  transplanted.  The  inevit- 
able result  followed.     Narrow  as  was  that  polity  ir 

'  Winthrop's  History  of  New  England,  vol.  i.,  p.  134. 


264  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

some  of  its  workings,  it  was  the  ferment  quickening 
to  a  more  active  political  life.  The  English  Towns 
were  little  autonomies  and  held  themselves  as  far  as 
possible  aloof  from  the  government  at  Nieuw  Am- 
sterdam. The  Dutch  Towns  envied  their  greater 
freedom,  and  chafed  under  the  authority  of  their 
own  rulers.  Thus,  thirty  years  of  discontent,  of 
jealousy  and  wrongdoing,  prepared  the  way  for  that 
easy  transfer  of  a  province  which  broke  the  heart  of 
Pieter  Stuyvesant. 

But  much  of  the  substantial  greatness  of  New 
York,  in  character  and  in  material  riches,  comes  from 
those  sterling  traits  which  are  our  Dutch  inheritance. 
The  virtues  of  the  Hollanders  were  those  most  akin 
to  English  blood.  The  Netherlands  were  then  one 
of  the  first  powers  of  Europe,  negotiating  on  equal 
terms  with  England  and  with  France.  The  Admiral 
Tromp  swept  the  English  Channel  while  the  ink  was 
drying  on  the  Hartford  Treaty.  It  was  the  land  of 
Erasmus  and  of  Grotius  which  sent  learned  Domines 
to  preside  over  the  churches  of  the  province,  and 
wise  Doctors  of  the  Law  to  sit  as  schout  and  schepen 
in  its  courts.  From  the  wharfs  and  warehouses  of 
Amsterdam  came  skillful  schippers  and  far-sighted 
merchants  to  lay  the  foundations  for  the  commercial 
strength  of  the  Greater  New  York,  while  from  the 
heroic  land  of  William  the  Silent  and  of  Prince 
Maurice  of  Barneveldt,  and  of  John  de  Witt  could 
come  only  men  trained  in  a  school  of  political  free- 
dom. It  was  a  noble  school,  whence  came  our  idea 
of  federal  union  and  of  much  that  is  best  in  our  own 
government.     Every  child  of  the  over-ridden  Hoi- 


TREATY    WITH  TASHPAUSHA.  265 

land  loved  her  hard-won  soil,  and  with  our  Dutch 
blood  may  well  descend  a  love  of  country  and  of 
home  such  as  flows  not  in  other  veins. 

The  spirit  of  the  Dutch  is  shown  in  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  West  India  Company  to  the  Director- 
General  of  their  colony :  "  He  should  rule  as  their 
father,  not  as  their  executioner  and  leading  them 
with  a  gentle  hand.  He  who  governs  them  as  a 
friend  and  associate  would  be  beloved  by  them,  but 
he  who  should  rule  them  as  a  superior,  will  over- 
throw and  bring  to  naught  everything,  yea,  will  stir 
up  against  him  the  neighbouring  provinces  to  which 
the  impatient  will  fly.  It  is  better  to  govern  by 
love  and  friendship  than  by  force." 

Home-loving  thrift  was  a  characteristic  of  this 
practical  people,  who  had  a  turn  for  organisation 
and  a  bent  toward  agriculture,  all  important  in  a 
new  country.  They  bought  their  land  of  the  In- 
dians, and  with  few  exceptions  their  dealings  with 
them  were  reciprocally  friendly.  Even  after  the 
massacre  at  Pavonia,  and  the  retaliation  at  Mas- 
peth,  an  agreement  is  entered  into  "  Betwixt  ye 
government  of  ye  New  Netherland  and  Tashpausha, 
March  ye  12th,  1646,  as  foUoweth :  I.  That  all  in- 
juries formerly  past  in  the  time  of  the  Governor's 
predecessors  should  be  forgiven  and  forgotten  sence 
ye  yeare  45  and  never  be  remembered."  But,  after 
many  protestations  of  friendship,  one  clause  is  to  be 
noted  :  "  The  Governor  of  the  New  Netherland  doth 
promise  to  make  no  peace  with  the  Indians  that  did 
th«  spoile  at  ye  Manhatan,  ye  iSth  Sept.  last." 

Religious  freedom,  as  far  as  its  spirit  was  then 


266  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

understood,  was  allowed.  The  States-General  tried 
to  encourage  immigration  by  inviting  "Christian 
people  of  tender  conscience  in  England,  or  elsewhere 
oppressed,"  to  make  a  home  with  them.  But, 
marked  exceptions  were  made  of  the  Quakers  and 
Anabaptists,  whom  Josselyn  says  "  they  imprison, 
fine,  and  weary  out."  Stuyvesant  had  little  patience 
with  the  Quakers.  His  course  toward  them  brought 
upon  him  a  reproof  from  the  Directors  in  Holland, 
whose  letter  well  expresses  the  general  policy  of  the 
company  :  "  Let  every  one  remain  free  as  he  is  mod- 
est, moderate,  his  political  conduct  irreproachable 
and  as  long  as  he  do  not  offend  others  or  oppose  the 
Government.  This  maxim  of  moderation  has  always 
been  the  guide  of  our  magistrates  in  this  city  and 
the  consequence  has  been  that  people  have  flocked 
from  every  land  to  this  asylum.  Tread  thus  in 
their  steps  and  we  doubt  not  you  will  be  blessed." 

The  spirit  of  migration,  so  characteristic  of  Ameri- 
can civilisation,  was  early  shown.  Its  impelling 
causes  were  much  the  same  as  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  Winthrop  writes  in  his  Journal :  "  1642, 
Mo.  7 :  22.  The  sudden  fall  of  land,  cattle  and  the 
scarcity  of  foreign  comodities  and  money,  etc.  with 
the  access  of  people  from  England,  put  many  into 
an  unsettled  frame  of  spirit,  so  as  they  concluded 
there  would  be  no  subsisting  here.  Accordingly 
they  began  to  hasten  away,  some  to  the  West 
Indies,  others  to  the  Dutch  at  Long  Island  for  the 
Governor  there  who  had  invited  them  by  very  fair 
oflers." 

The  same  year,  1642,  Sir  William  Boswell,  English 


STUYVESANT'S  EMBASSY  TO  WINTHROP.      267 

Ambassador  at  The  Hague,  desired  the  House  of 
Commons  to  take  action  in  regard  to  the  Dutch  oc- 
cupation in  America.  He  urged  that  the  English 
in  Connecticut  should  "  not  forbeare  to  put  forward 
their  plantations  and  crowd  on,  crowding  the  Dutch 
out  of  their  place  where  they  have  occupied."  It 
was  perhaps  from  this  advice  that  the  English  were 
always  the  aggressors.  Stuyvesant  certainly  began 
his  administration  in  friendly  spirit.  Winthrop 
writes :  "  1647,  4  mo. :  6.  The  new  governour  of 
the  Dutch  called  Peter  Stevesant  being  arrived  at 
the  Monodos  sent  his  Secretary  to  Boston  with  let- 
ters to  the  Governour  with  tender  of  all  courtesy 
and  good  correspondency,  but  withal  taking  notice 
of  the  differences  between  them  and  Connecticut 
and  offering  to  have  them  referred  to  friends  here 
not  to  determine,  but  to  prepare  for  a  hearing  and 
determination  in  Europe,  in  which  letter  he  lays 
claim  to  all  between  Connecticut  [River]  and  Dela- 
ware. The  Commissioners  being  assembled  at  Bos- 
ton, the  Governour  acquainted  them  with  the  letter 
and  it  was  put  to  consideration  what  answer  to  re- 
turn. Some  advised  that  seeing  he  made  proffer  of 
much  goodwill  and  neighbourly  correspondency,  we 
should  seek  to  gain  upon  him  by  courtesy  and  there- 
fore to  accept  his  offer  and  tender  him  a  visit  at  his 
own  home,  or  a  meeting  at  any  of  our  towns  which 
he  should  choose.  But  the  Commissioners  of  those 
parts  thought  differently  supposing  it  would  be 
more  to  their  advantage  to  stand  upon  times,  dis- 
tance etc.  An  answer  was  returned  accordingly, 
only  taking    notice  of    his  offer   and    shewing  our 


268  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

readiness  to  give  him  a  meeting  in  time  and  place 
convenient.     So  matters  remained  as  they  were." 

But  only  for  a  short  time.  The  affair  was  con- 
stantly discussed  in  the  slow  fashion  of  diplomacy. 
To  the  wiser  men  on  either  side,  a  friendly  compro- 
mise seemed  not  impossible,  while  in  his  well-con- 
sidered Observations  on  the  Colonisation  of  Nieuw 
Nederlandt,  the  Secretary  van  Tienhoven  in  May, 
1650,  proposed  a  strategic  movement  apparently 
feasible  :  "  The  further  progress  of  the  English  upon 
Long  Island  would,  in  my  opinion  be  prevented  and 
estopped  without  the  settlement  of  the  boundary, 
by  the  following  means :  First  by  purchasing  of  the 
natives  the  lands  situate  on  the  east  point  of  Long 
Island,  not  already  bought ;  that  done,  by  taking 
possession  of  the  east  point  which  is  about  three 
leagues  from  Southampton  and  by  securing  its  pos- 
session by  a  Redoubt  and  small  Garrison,  and  set- 
tling it  by  means  of  a  Colonic.  The  west  part  of 
the  aforesaid  sea '  being  taken  possession  of  in  like 
manner,  the  villages  of  Southampton  and  Southold 
would  be  shut  in.  After  this  is  accomplished,  Sick- 
eteu  Hacky,  Oyster  Bay  and  Martin  Gerretsen's 
Bay  must  be  taken  possession  of.  The  whole  of 
Long  Island  would  be  thereby  secured  to  Nieuw 
Nederlandt,  and  the  design  of  the  English  in  regard 
to  the  domination  of  the  said  convenient  harbour  be 
rendered  fruitless  and  null."  " 

In  the  middle  of  September,  1650,  the  Director- 
General  set  out  for  the  Connecticut.     A  four  days' 

'  'T  Cromme  Gouwe,  or  Peconic  Bay. 

2  New  York  Colotiial  Documents,  i. ,  p.  360. 


THE  HARTFORD    TREATY.  269 

voyage  brought  him  to  Hartford,  where  he  was  re- 
ceived with  due  courtesy.  "  To  avoid  all  incon- 
veniency  by  verbal  speaking,  through  hastiness  or 
otherwise,"  Stuyvesant  wished  the  business  to  be 
done  by  writing.  His  first  communication  was  dated 
Nieuw  Nederlandt.  The  New  England  Commis- 
sioners refused  to  act  unless  he  withdrew  the  term, 
or  explained  the  sense  in  which  he  thus  dated  a 
letter  in  Hartford.  He  did  explain  that  the  letter 
had  been  first  written  in  Nieuw  Amsterdam,  with 
the  approval  of  the  Eight-Men,  and  had  been  copied 
by  him  on  board  the  yacht.  He  would  hereafter 
say  "  Hartford  in  Connecticut "  if  the  English  would 
not  say  "  Hartford  in  New  England."  ' 

Five  days  of  wordy  negotiation  followed,  until  the 
affair  was  finally  left  to  four  arbitrators  who  drew 
up  the  Articles  of  Agreement  constituting  the  famous 
Hartford  Treaty.  Simon  Bradstreet  and  Thomas 
Prence  were  the  Commissioners  for  the  United  Colo- 
nies, while  Captain  Thomas  Willet  and  George 
Baxter  were  chosen  by  Stuyvesant  to  represent 
Nieuw  Nederlandt.  They  fixed  the  boundary  be- 
tween the  Dutch  and  English  on  Long  Island  to  be 
"a  line  run  from  the  westernmost  part  of  Oyster 
Bay,  so  in  a  straight  and  direct  line  to  the  sea." 
But  its  exact  bearings  were  long  a  matter  of  dispute. 
The  god  Terminus  was  not  a  recognised  divinity 
among  our  early  settlers. 

Meanwhile  there  was  discord  among  the  Dutch 

'  Stuyvesant  had  often  addressed  letters  to  "New  Haven  in  the 
Netherlands."  In  his  eyes,  the  English  village  was  still  "  'T  Roode 
Berg." 


270  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

and  many  complaints  against  Stuyvesant.  Van  der 
Donck  blamed  him  greatly  for  the  concessions  of  the 
Treaty,  declaring  that  "  'T  Verssche  Rivier  "  should 
have  been  the  eastern  boundary  of  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt  and  that  all  of  Long  Island  should  have  been 
kept  by  the  Dutch.  Their  trade,  he  asserted,  would 
be  greatly  injured  by  the  conditions  of  the  treaty, 
New  England  was  given  control  of  wampum-making, 
the  currency  of  the  province, — and  so  on,  objecting 
to  the  several  points  of  the  Treaty. 

As  the  various  Chambers  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany were  heard  from,  all  agreed  that  in  any  fair 
adjustment  of  boundaries,  Long  Island,  "  lying  right 
.in  front  of  the  Coast,"  should  have  remained  a  part 
of  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  The  English  in  the  western 
half  of  the  Island  warmly  supported  the  Director- 
General.  Baxter,  representing  Gravesend,  in  165 1, 
addressed  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  expressing  the 
joy  of  the  people  that  the  Company  had  finally  de- 
termined to  sustain  Stuyvesant.  Herein,  however, 
they  had  their  own  axe  to  grind.  After  fervid 
utterances  of  loyalty  to  the  Company  and  to  the 
States-General,  they  demanded  many  new  privileges. 
Among  them  was  the  exclusive  right  to  bring  into 
the  province  free  of  duty,  negroes  and  goods  of  any 
kind.'  Hempstead  sent  a  similar  address,  certified 
by  "  John  Moore,  Clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
Heemstede." 

'  In  1650,  the  Council  at  Nieuw  Amsterdam  wrote  to  the  West 
India  Company,  ' '  There  is  not  a  man  in  Nieuw  Nederlandt  who 
does  not  believe  the  duty  is  the  cause  o£  the  intolerable  scarcity  and 
disorder  and  want  of  population  there. " 


RE  VOL  T  AT  HEMPSTEAD.  27 1 

Captain  John  Underbill,  once  leader  of  the  Dutch 
forces,  was  now,  in  1653,  active  against  them.  He 
had  charged  Tienhoven  with  conspiracy '  and  assert- 
ed the  existence  of  a  plot  to  turn  the  Indians  against 
the  English.  Underhill  was  arrested  and  taken  to 
Fort  Amsterdam,  but  dismissed  without  a  trial. 
Returning  to  Long  Island,  he  awakened  and  organ- 
ised the  slumbering  spirit  of  revolt,  and  was  hence- 
forth the  unceasing  foe  of  the  Dutch.  He  raised 
the  Parliamentary  flag  at  Hempstead  and  issued  an 
address  against  the  "  iniquitous  government  of  Peter 
Stuyvesant,"  which  he  called  "A  great  autocracy 
and  tyranny,  too  grievous  for  any  good  Englishman 
or  brave  Christian  to  tolerate."  Thirteen  specifica- 
tions, equally  bold  and  groundless,  were  made,  while 
he  entreated  the  people  to  "  accept  and  submit  to 
ye  then  Parliament  of  England,"  and  to  "  beware  of 
becoming  traitors  to  one  another  for  the  sake  of 
your  own  quiet  and  welfare." 

Underhill  was  ordered  to  leave  the  Province. 
Crossing  the  Sound,  he  offered  his  services  to  Con- 
necticut, "  to  save  English  blood  and  vindicate  the 
rights  of  England."  The'  double  renegade  was  not 
welcomed  by  the  United  Colonies,  but  the  Provi- 
dence Plantations  gave  him  a  commission  to  cruise 
against  the  Dutch.  Under  this  authority,  he  went 
up  the  Connecticut  a  month  later  and  took  posses- 
sion of  the  unoccupied  Huys  van  Hoop  "by  virtue 
of  ye  said  Commission  and  according  to  Act  of  Par- 

'  About  this  time,  Augustyn  Hermans  says  of  Tienhoven,  "  that 
infernal  firebrand  {lilase-geist)  has  returned  here  and  put  the  country 
in  a  blaze." 


272  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

liament  and  with  permission  from  ye  Generall  Court 
of  Hartford,"  seizing  it  as  belonging  to  the  "  Ene- 
mies of  the  Commonwealth  of  England."  This 
land  he  sold  to  Ralph  Earle  of  Rhode  Island  and  to 
Richard  Lord  of  Hartford,  giving  to  each  a  deed. 
Stuyvesant  sent  to  inquire  into  the  truth  of  the 
transaction,  and  received  from  Governor  Eaton  a 
copy  of  the  proclamation. 

Stuyvesant  had  advised  the  settling  of  some  Eng- 
lish families  in  Flushing,  but  early  in  November  the 
Council  in  Amsterdam  wrote  him  :  "  We  take  a  dif- 
ferent view,  for  the  Inhabitants  of  Hempstead  and 
Flushing  have  not  only  not  prevented  the  raising  of 
the  Parliament's  flag  by  some  English  freebooters, 
but  have  also  permitted  it  to  be  done,  an  example 
which  induces  us  not  to  trust  to  any  of  that  nation 
residing  within  our  jurisdiction.  The  emigrating 
and  having  favours  granted  them  must  henceforth 
be  restricted  that  we  may  not  nourish  serpents  in 
our  bosom  which  finally  might  devour  our  heart." 

The  discontent  increased  on  Long  Island,  the 
people  suffered  much  from  attacks  of  the  Indians, 
and  of  the  pirates,  who  not  infrequently  approached 
the  shore.  Feeling  that  Stuyvesant  did  not  suffi- 
ciently provide  for  their  protection,  they  finally  took 
affairs  in  their  own  hands.  Delegates  from  Graves- 
end,  Middelburgh,  and  Heemstede  met  at  Flushing, 
and  entered  into  communication  with  the  govern- 
ment. A  meeting  was  held  at  the  Stadt  Huys  in 
Nieuw  Amsterdam  the  next  day,  November  27, 
1653,  to  discuss  plans  for  relief.  It  was  then  decided 
by  the  Long  Island  men  that  if  the  Director-General, 


AT  THE  STADT  BUYS.  273 

acting  for  the  privileged  West  India  Company, 
would  not  protect  them,  they  must  seek  safety  in 
their  own  determination  :  "  We  are  compelled  to 
provide  against  our  own  ruin  and  destruction,  and 
therefore  will  pay  no  more  taxes."  They  were  will- 
ing to  unite  with  Burgomasters  and  Schepens  in 
measures  for  the  common  weal,  but  if  they  held  back 
they  should  then  "  enter  into  firm  union  among 
ourselves  on  Long  Island,  for  the  Director-General 
affords  us  no  protection."  Baxter  was  the  leading 
spirit,  and  strong  in  opposition  to  the  government. 
Stuyvesant,  to  prevent  the  Dutch  Towns  being  out- 
voted by  the  English,  then  determined  to  incorpo- 
rate Breuckelen,  Amersfoordt,  and  Midwout,  and 
thus  the  movement  did  achieve  a  greater  political 
freedom,  although  not  on  the  lines  intended. 

Stuyvesant  was  popular,  personally,  among  the 
English  of  Long  Island.  Two  years  before,  Hemp- 
stead had  written  to  Amsterdam,  "  We  have  found 
the  Governor  to  be  an  honourable,  upright  &  wise 
person  of  corteous  demeanor  toward  us  at  all  times 
and  places."  But,  the  memorial  goes  on  to  say, 
"  It  sorely  roils  our  English  blood  that  we  should  be 
slaves  and  raise  cattle  for  Indian  vagabonds.  .  .  . 
If  your  Honours  will  not  remedy  this  intolerable 
plague  and  that  soon,  for  we  dread  a  heavier  mis- 
fortune, their  barbarous  and  cruel  insurrection,  we 
must  and  shall  be  obliged  though  disinclined  to 
abandon  our  dwellings  and  your  Honours  juris- 
diction." 

At  a  second  Landtdag,  or  representative  conven- 
tion, held  at    Nieuw  Amsterdam,    December  loth, 

l8 


274 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


twenty-three  delegates  from  the  city  and  the  Long 
Island  towns  came  together.'  A  remonstrance  was 
addressed  to  the  Director-General  and  the  Council, 
setting  forth  their  rights  and  privileges  to  be  the 
same  as  those  of  the  Netherlanders.  "Not  being 
conquered  or  subjugated,  but  settled  here  on  mutual 
contract  with  the  Lords  Patroons  and  natives,"  they 
formulated  their  grievances,  as,  first,  the  fear  of  the 
establishment  of  arbitrary  government ;  new  laws 
had  been  enacted  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
people,  and  this  "  was  contrary  to  the  granted  privi- 
leges of  Nieuw  Nederlandt  and  odious  to  every 
free-born  man."  The  provincial  government  af- 
forded no  protection  against  savages  ;  magistrates 
and  oiificers  were  appointed  without  the  consent  of 
the  people  ;  old  orders,  made  without  the  knowledge 
and  consent  of  the  people,  remained  in  force  and 
were  violated  through  ignorance :  they  had  been 
promised  patents  on  the  strength  of  which  large  im- 
provements  had  been  made   in  Midwout,  but  the 


'  Frederick  I^ubbertson, 
Paulus  Van  der  Beeck, 
John  Hicks, 
Tobias  Feake, 
Robt.  Coe, 
Thos.  Hazard, 
William  Washburn, 
John  Seaman, 
Elbert  Elbertsen, 
Thos.  Spicer, 
Thos.  Swartout, 
Jan  Stryker, 
George  Baxter, 
James  Hubbard, 


[•  from  Breuckelen. 
[■  from  Flushing. 
[■  from  Middelburgh. 
!•  from  Hempstead. 
!•  from  Midwout. 
[•  from  Amersfoordt. 
!•  from  Gravesend, 


STUYVESANT'S  OBJECTIONS.  275 

patents  were  delayed.  They  go  on  to  say  that  they 
have  "  transformed  with  immense  labour  and  at 
their  own  expense,  a  wilderness  of  woods  into  a  few 
small  villages  and  cultivated  farms,"  and  complain 
that  large  grants  of  land  on  which  twenty  or  thirty 
families  could  have  been  established,  had  been  given 
to  favoured  individuals  for  their  private  profit. 

By  the  feudal  law  of  their  founding  it  was  the 
fief,  and  not  the  people,  which  possessed  the  right 
of  representation,  and  no  delegates  could  be  recog- 
nised who  did  not  come  from  the  Court  of  the 
township.  Stuyvesant,  therefore,  would  not  re- 
ceive the  delegates  from  Midwout,  Breuckelen,  and 
Amersfoordt,  nor  give  the  categorical  "  answers  " 
demanded.  He  resented  the  drafting  of  the  Re- 
monstrance by  an  Englishman,  George  Baxter,  and 
declared  false  the  charges  against  himself.  He 
stoutly  denied  the  right  of  the  people  to  call  meet- 
ings, and  ordered  the  Convention  to  disperse,  or 
suffer  the  "  pain  of  arbitrarie  correction."  He  ob- 
jected to  the  election  of  magistrates  "  by  the  popu- 
lace," because  "  each  would  vote  for  one  of  his  own 
stamp,  the  thief  for  a  thief,  the  rogue,  the  tippler, 
the  smuggler,  each  for  a  brother  in  iniquity  that  he 
might  enjoy  greater  latitude  for  his  own  offences." 
His  ultimatum  was  that  "  We  derive  our  authority 
from  God  and  the  Company,  not  from  a  few  igno- 
rant subjects,  .  .  .  and  we  alone  can  call  the  people 
together." 

Meanwhile  piracies  on  sea  and  depredations  on 
land  increased.  The  danger  from  piracy  became 
so  great  that  early  in  1664  it  was  resolved  to  raise 


276  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

a  force  of  forty  men  to  protect  the  shores  of  Long 
Island.'  Breuckelen,  Amersfoordt,  and  Midwout 
were  especially  entreated  to  "  lend  their  aid  at  this 
critical  conjuncture  to  further  whatever  may  ad- 
vance the  public  safety."  They  therefore  prepared 
for  a  general  rising  if  invaded  by  the  dread  Pirates, 
and  every  third  man  was  pledged  to  service  as  a 
minute-man. 

New  England  was  arming  against  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt.  The  disloyalty  of  the  English  Towns  and  the 
enmity  of  New  England  were  stirred  still  more  by  a 
pamphlet  written  in  America,  but  published  in  Lon- 
don, and  denounced  by  the  States-General  as  a 
"  most  infamous  lying  libel  at  which  the  devil  in 
hell  would  have  been  startled."  This  tissue  of  mis- 
chievous lies  was  entitled  The  Second  Part  of  the 
Amboyna  Tragedy :  or,  a  Faithful  Account  of  a 
bloody,  treacherous  &  Cruel  Plot  of  the  Dutch 
in  America,  purporting  the  Total  Ruin  &  Murder 
of  all  the  English  Colonies  in  New  England.  The 
effect  of  this  and  similar  malicious  falsities  was  to 
draw  from  Cromwell  a  fleet  of  four  ships  for  the 
reduction  of  "  The  Manhattans,"  and  all  places 
occupied  by  the  Dutch.     The  vessels,  commanded 

'  The  apportionment  shows  the  relative  population  of  the  different 
settlements  : 

From  the  Manhattans  ...  8  Middelburgh  &  Mespat  Kill .  3 
Breuckelen,  the  Ferry  &  the  Gravesend 3 


Walloon  Quarter 
Heemstede     .     . 
Rennsselaerwyck 
Beverwyck     .     . 
Staaten  Island    . 


4  Vlissingen 2 

4  Amersfoordt 2 

4  Middelwout    .  .  .     .  2 

4  Paulus  Hoeck i 


2 


CROMWELL'S  FLEET.  277 

by  Major  Robert  Sedgwick  and  Captain  John 
Leveret,  were  under  orders  February  27,  1654,  to 
sail  to  some  New  England  port,  and  there  to  com- 
municate the  purpose  of  the  Lord  Protector  to  the 
Governors  of  the  Colonies  of  Connecticut,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Plymouth,  who  were  to  be  urged  to 
aid  the  expedition  and  to  furnish  land  forces  for  its 
furtherance. 

The  fleet  reached  Boston  in  June,  and  by  the  end 
of  the  month  a  troop  of  three  hundred  horse  was 
ready  to  march.  Nieuw  Nederlandt  learned  her 
danger  from  the  Pilgrim,  Isaac  Allerton,  a  frequent 
visitor  at  Nieuw  Amsterdam,  and  an  anxious  session 
of  the  Council  was  held.  The  Director-General  had 
little  hope  of  help  from  his  people.  He  feared  the 
open  desertion  of  the  English  Towns,  while  "  to  in- 
vite them  to  assist  us  would  be  to  bring  the  Trojan 
horse  within  our  walls."  Even  the  Dutch  were  not 
to  be  depended  on  in  the  alarm  of  a  sudden  attack, 
and  they  were  almost  destitute  of  arms  and  ammu- 
nition. Never  a  darker  outlook.  But  the  indom- 
itable Stuyvesant  inspired  the  people  with  something 
of  his  own  spirit.  A  loan  was  proposed  to  repair 
and  arm  the  Fort.  Money  was  pledged  and  every 
man  worked  with  spade  and  axe. 

The  invading  fleet  was  unfurling  its  sails  to  the 
summer  breeze  and  about  weighing  anchor  to  sail 
to  Nieuw  Amsterdam,  when  an  English  merchant 
ship  entered  Boston  Harbour  with  the  news  of  the 
Peace  between  England  and  Holland,  concluded 
April  15, 1654.  The  danger  was  averted,  and  a  brief 
respite  given  the  doomed  government. 


278  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Gravesend  was  the  headquarters  of  the  malcon- 
tents, who  were  led,  as  usual,  by  George  Baxter  and 
Sergeant  Hubbard.  Baxter  had  returned  to  Graves- 
end  early  in  the  spring  of  1655,  announcing  that  the 
English  fleet,  victorious  at  Acadia,  was  under  orders 
from  Cromwell  to  take  Long  Island  from  the  Dutch 
before  the  first  of  May.  The  English  flag  was  raised 
March  9th,  and  Baxter  read  this  declaration : 

"  We,  individuals  of  the  English  nation  here 
present,  do  for  divers  reasons  and  motives,  claim 
and  assume  to  ourselves  as  free-born  British  sub- 
jects, the  laws  of  our  nation  and  Republic  of  Eng- 
land, over  the  place  as  to  our  persons  and  properties 
in  love  and  harmony  according  to  the  general  peace 
between  the  two  states  in  Europe  and  this  country. 
God  Almighty  preserve  the  Republic  of  England, 
the  Lord  Protector  and  also  the  continuance  of 
peace  between  the  two  countries.     Amen." 

Baxter  and  Hubbard  were  arrested  and  imprisoned 
in  Fort  Amsterdam  for  a  year.  The  people  were  too 
excited  for  a  quiet  election  to  take  place,  and  the 
Sheriff  and  Deborah,  Lady  Moody,  "  oldest  and 
first  of  the  inhabitants,"  were  empowered  to  nomi- 
nate the  new  magistrates.  By  the  petition  of  Sir 
Henry  Moody,  Hubbard  was  then  set  free,  and  Bax- 
ter released  on  bail,  which  he  forfeited.  Gravesend, 
meaning  to  lead  in  any  hostile  movement,  issued 
letters  of  marque  on  her  own  authority,  and  entered 
into  secret  communication  with  Boston.  The  affairs 
of  the  town  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee 
of  twelve  men,  who  appointed  all  officers,  disregarding 
the  Director-General's  right  to  confirm  nominations. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  CROMWELL.        279 

Peace  had  been  concluded  between  England  and 
Holland,  but  neither  country  had  much  faith  in  its 
continuance.  Disputes  and  "  rumours  of  wars  "  pre- 
vailed. As  the  shock  of  the  Lisbon  Earthquake,  a 
century  later,  stirred  the  waters  of  Huron  and  Supe- 
rior, so  now,  the  throes  of  civil  war  in  England,  and 
the  convulsions  of  Central  Europe,  not  altogether 
quieted  by  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia,  had  reached 
America  with  their  reflex  influence.  In  May,  1656, 
the  West  India  Company  ordered  Stuyvesant  to 
build  a  fort  at  Oyster  Bay.  The  next  year  Gravesend 
addressed  a  memorial  to  Cromwell,  begging  to  be 
taken  under  his  protection.  This  recalled  attention 
to  "  The  English  rights  to  the  Northern  parts  of 
America,"  and  the  English  Towns  were  advised  to 
be  "  very  cautious  of  betraying  the  rights  of  their 
nation,  by  subjecting  themselves  to  a  foreign  na- 
tion." Cromwell  replied  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
"  The  English  well-affected  Inhabitants  on  Long 
Island  in  America."  This  letter  the  Magistrates 
declined  to  receive  until  they  had  consulted  Stuyve- 
sant. The  English  in  the  neighbouring  villages 
called  a  meeting  at  Jamaica  to  "  Agetate."  Baxter 
again  wrote  to  the  Great  Protector,  even  then  in  the 
shadow  of  death,  to  complain  of  the  wrongs  and  in- 
juries which  we  receive  here  from  those  in  authority 
over  us."  His  messenger,  James  Grover,  who  had 
helped  to  raise  the  English  flag  at  Gravesend,  was 
arrested  and  taken  to  Nieuw  Amsterdam.  Stuyve- 
sant sent  the  letter  unopened  to  the  Amsterdam 
Chamber. 

About  this  time  an  official  statement  of  the  case, 


28o  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

from  the  Dutch  point  of  view,  was  published  in 
A  Memoir  of  English  Encroachments  on  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt,  drawn  up  from  "  divers  Letters  and  Docu- 
ments." '     It  says  : 

"  Long  Island  which  is  encompassed  southwardly 
by  the  great  Ocean  and  northwardly  by  the  East 
River  and  is  about  thirty  leagues  in  length,  was  be- 
fore the  English  had  any  pretensions,  or  had  ever 
made  any  claim  to  it,  taken  possession  of  by  the 
Dutch  by  planting  the  villages  of  Amersfoordt, 
Heemstede,  Vlackbosh,  Gravesend  and  Breuckelen 
with  a  goodly  number  of  bouweries  and  plantations, 
the  inhabitants  whereof  are  all  subjects  to  and  vas- 
sals of  their  High  Mightinesses  and  of  the  Company. 

"  Notwithstanding  which  the  island  has  not  re- 
mained free  from  unseemly  usurpations.  This  usur- 
pation is  mixed  with  the  greatest  contumely  and 
contempt  in  the  world."  (Here  follows  an  account 
of  the  tearing  down  of  the  Prince  of  Orange's  Arms 
at  'T  Schout's  Baie.)  "  The  English  of  New  Haven, 
called  by  the  Dutch  of  olden  times  Roodenburgh, 
have  planted  two  little  villages  named  Southold  and 
Southhampton.  In  the  like  manner,  in  the  Krom- 
megou  which  is  our  inland  sea,  they  have  usurped 
what  is  called  Garnaet's  Island  which  belongs 
to  Long  Island  and  is  convenient  for  the  Cod- 
fishery." 

The  Restoration  did  not  help  matters  for  the 
Dutch.  Although  in  the  treaty  of  1654  Cromwell 
acknowledged  their  right  to  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  her 

'  See  Holland  Documents,  No.  vii.,  in  New  York  Colonial  Docu 
ments,  vol.  i.,  p.  565- 


MORTGAGED  TO  CONNECTICUT  MEN.        28 1 

neighbours  on  the  north  of  the  Sound  gave  little 
heed  to  that  distant  diplomatic  utterance,  nor  did 
the  Court  concern  itself  to  make  good  the  promises 
of  a  rebel  government.  The  English  declared  it  im- 
possible to  enforce  the  new  Navigation  Act  while 
Nieuw  Nederlandt  lay  between  New  England  and 
Virginia  and  carried  on  an  illicit  trade  which  yearly 
"  defrauded  "  the  King's  Customs  of  ten  thousand 
pounds.  The  Navigation  Act,  so  potent  in  its  after 
influences,  was  primarily  aimed  at  the  destruction  of 
Dutch  commerce.  "  It  would  be  evaded,  and  could 
not  be  enforced  in  America  so  long  as  New  Nether- 
land  existed  as  a  Dutch  plantation."  ' 

The  prince  also,  who  came  to  his  own,  resolved  to 
make  up  for  years  of  penury,  regarded  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt as  fair  prey  and  a  legitimate  provision  for  his 
brother.  In  carrying  out  Charles's  intention  to 
seize  the  province.  Clarendon,  in  February,  1664, 
bought  for  James,  Lord  Sterling's  interest  in  Long 
Island  for  ;^3S,ooo.  But  Connecticut,  on  the  receipt 
of  her  charter  in  1662,  had  asserted  a  claim  to  Long 
Island,  the  Sterling  grant  to  which  had  been  already 
mortgaged  to  some  of  her  citizens,"  and  named  a 

'  Brodhead's  History  of  New  York,  vol.  ii.,  p.  13. 

*  July  29,  1641,  James  Farret,  "to  provide  as  lie  may  for  that 
part  of  Long  Island  not  possessed,  nor,  as  he  conceiveth,  claimed  by 
the  Dutch,"  gave  a  deed  thereof  to  George  Fenwick  of  Saybrook, 
Edwin  Hopkins  of  Hartford,  Theophilus  Eaton  and  Steven  Good- 
year of  New  Haven  for  £io  and  charges,  in  default  of  such  payment 
within  three  years,  the  title  of  the  Island  to  rest  in  the  mortgages. — 
Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut,  vol.  ii.,p.  93. 

Captain  John  Scott  later  testified  that  Mr.  Eaton  said  :  "  He  and 
another  gentleman  layd  out  money  on  the  mortgage  of  Long  Island, 
but  he  did  it  for  the  good  of  the  country." 


282 


EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 


Commission '  to  go  to  Long  Island  and  there  estab- 
lish her  government.  Two  men  were  appointed 
from  all  but  the  Five  Dutch  Towns,  to  help  them 
administer  the  Freeman's  oath,  and  to  act  as  magis- 
trates." 

The  General  Court  of  Hartford,  October  23, 1662, 
declared  the  Long  Island  Towns  annexed  to  Con- 
necticut, and  ordered  them  to  send  representatives 
to  the  General  Assembly  in  the  following  May. 
Stuyvesant  pronounced  this  the  "  unrighteous,  stub- 
born, impudent  and  pertinacious  proceeding  of  the 
English  at  Hartford,"  and  declared  the  English 
troops  and  the  English  residents  on  Long  Island  to 

■  Mr.  Math  AUeyn, 
Mr.  Wyllys, 
Capt.  Young. 
=  Richard  Woodhull, 
John  Ketchum, 
Robert  Seeley, 
Jonas  Wood, 
John  Mulford, 
Robert  Bond, 
Thurston  Raynor, 
John  Howell, 
Barnabas  Horton, 
John  Youngs, 
John  Hicks, 
Ri.  Gildersleeve, 
Robert  Coe, 
Thos.  Benedict, 
William  Hallet, 
William  Noble, 
John  Richbell, 
Robt.  Firman, 
James  Hubbard, 
Wm.  Wilkins, 


!•  of  Setauket. 
\  of  Huntington. 
\  of  Easthampton. 
\  of  Southampton. 
[  of  Southold. 
[•  of  Hempstead. 
!•  of  Jamaica. 
■J  of  Newtown. 
\  of  Oyster  Bay. 
f  of  Gravesend. 


APPEAL    TO   HARTFORD.  283 

be  "  our  most  bitter  enemies."  When  the  news  of 
the  Hartford  action  reached  Southold,  John  Youngs 
wrote  to  the  other  English  villages,  a  letter  begin- 
ning, "  Whereas  it  has  pleased  his  Majesty  to  involve 
Long  Island  within  the  Connecticut  patten,"  in 
which  he  forbade  them  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  any  other  authority. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  January 
8,  1663,  Stuyvesant  earnestly  called  the  attention  of 
the  Directors  to  this  "  Annexation,"  but  with  no  re- 
sult. In  the  fall,  "  Jemaco,  Middelburrow  and 
Heemstede  "  addressed  a  Memorial  to  the  General 
Court  at  Hartford,  beseeching  the  Court  "  to  cast 
over  them  the  skirts  of  their  Government  to  protect 
them  in  their  bondage."  The  bearer  of  the  Petition, 
Sergeant  Hubbard,  also  begged  that  a  force  be  sent 
to  at  once  reduce  the  Dutch  Towns.  One  Richard 
Panton,  with  a  body  of  armed  men,  did  thus  enter 
Midwout.  Revolution  was  imminent.  Commis- 
sioners from  Nieuw  Amsterdam  were  sent  to  Hart- 
ford demanding  an  explanation.  Connecticut  replied, 
"  We  know  of  no  Nieuw  Nedderlandt  unless  you  can 
show  us  a  patent  from  his  Majesty."  The  letter 
was  addressed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Court  to 
"  The  Director-General  at  the  Manacos."  The 
Dutch  persisted  in  the  claim  of  their  High  Mighti- 
nesses by  the  same  argument  as  heretofore,  and  a 
compromise  was  finally  arranged  by  which  Connec- 
ticut agreed  to  assert  no  authority  over  the  English 
Towns  of  Western  Long  Island,  provided  that  the 
Dutch  also  would  not  interfere. 

Stuyvesant  then  called  a  "  Landt's  vergaderung  " 


284  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

at  Nieuw  Amsterdam  to  consider  the  state  of  the 
country.  The  meeting  took  place  November  2, 
1663.  It  addressed  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  an 
earnest  remonstrance  against  the  Directors'  lack  of 
interest,  to  which  they  referred  the  present  condi- 
tion of  affairs.  But  nothing  decisive  was  done,  and 
almost  immediately  after,  Jamaica  held  a  meeting  to 
"  concert  measures  of  relief  against  the  oppression 
of  the  Governor  and  Council." 

The  smothered  feeling  was  now  bursting  into 
flames.  Anthony  Waters  of  Hempstead,  and  John 
Coe  of  Middelburgh,  with  a  body  of  seventy  or 
eighty  men,  visited  the  various  English  villages,  pro- 
claiming King  Charles,  and  giving  new  names  to  the 
towns.'  Stuyvesant  sent  a  few  troops  under  De 
SiUe  to  protect  the  Dutch  Towns,  and  wrote  to 
Hartford  accepting  the  terms  his  agents  had  refused. 
It  was  the  virtual  surrender  by  Nieuw  Nederlandt 
of  the  larger  part  of  her  domain  on  Long  Island. 

Captain  John  Scott  now  appeared  upon  the  scene, 
he  of  whom  it  was  said,  that  "  he  was  born  to  work 
mischief  as  far  as  he  is  credited,  or  his  parts  serve 
him."  His  father  had  been  a  zealous  ofificer  of  his 
King  during  the  Civil  War.  The  son  was  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Parliamentary  troops  and  banished 
to  New  England.  After  the  Restoration,  he  re- 
turned to  England  petitioning  the  King  to  be  made 
Governor  of  Long  Island.  Charles,  disposed,  to 
favour  him,  referred  the  request  to  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Plantations  to  learn  if  the  Island  was 

'  Flushing  was  called  Newark  (often  New-Wark) ;  Middelburgh, 
Hastings;  Jamaica,  Crawford  (or  Craffard);  Oyster  Bay,  Fole  stone. 


A   COMBINATION^.     .  285 

covered  by  earlier  grants.  This  gave  Scott  the  op- 
portunity to  complain  of  the  Dutch  "  intrusions " 
and  of  their  interference  with  the  workings  of  the 
Navigation  Act.  The  Committee  then  appointed 
him,  with  Mr.  Maverick  and  George  Baxter,  to  ex- 
amine his  Majesty's  title  to  the  lands,  the  extent  of 
the  aforesaid  "intrusions,"  the  character  of  the 
Dutch  Government,  and,  if  necessary,  to  use  force  to 
expel  the  Dutch.  Returning  to  America  in  the  fate- 
ful fall  of  1663,  he  was  further  commissioned  with 
Messrs.  Talcott,  Young,  and  Woodall  to  incorporate 
Long  Island  with  Connecticut. 

The_ English  at  the  west  of  the  Island,  were  now 
really  under  neither  Nieuw  Nederlandt  nor  Connecti- 
cut ;  they  had  protection  from  neither  and  were  dis- 
pleased that  Connecticut  made  no  more  definite 
promises  of  aid  and  good  fellowship.  Scott  was 
then  at  Ashford,  in  Brookhaven,  and  was  asked  in 
the  subjoined  letter  to  come  and  settle  affairs  : 

"  Dec.  13. 

"  Dear  Sir  :  In  behalf  of  sum  lOOs  of  English  heer 
planted  on  the  West  End  of  Long  Island,  wee  ad- 
dress ourselves  unto  you.  The  business  is  that  wee 
were  put  uppon  proclaiming  the  King  by  Capt.  J. 
Youngs  who  came  with  a  trumpet  to  Hemstede 
and  sounded  in  our  ears  that  Coneticot  would  do 
great  things  for  vs,  which  has  put  vs  to  greate  trouble 
and  extreamely  divided  vs.  Wee  beseache  you  noble 
Sir,  come  and  settle  vs.  Wee  beseache  you,  think  of 
our  Condition.  The  Dutch  threaten  vs,  our  neigh- 
bours abvse  us  &  nothing  from  Coneticot,  but  if  so 
bees  and  doubtings,  &  yet  at  first  they  sayd  wee  ware 


286  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

part  of  thaire  Patent  &  yf  this  our  case  which  wee 
intreate  you  to  consider  in  hope  of  which  wee  sub- 
scribe ourselves. 

"  Yours  ever  to  be  commanded,  in  behalf  of  many 
distressed." ' 

On  Scott's  coming,  when  asked  what  disposition 
was  to  be  made  of  Long  Island,  they  were  told  that 
his  Majesty  had  already  given  it  to  the  Duke  of 
York  who  would  soon  announce  his  intentions. 
Hempstead,  Newark,  Hastings,  Crawford,  and  Fole- 
stone  then  formed  "A  Combination  to  manage  their 
own  affairs  without  the  aid  of  Connecticut,  to  elect 
their  own  ofificers,  to  draw  up  a  code  of  laws,"  and 
further,  "  to  fully  impower  the  said  Captain  John 
Scott  to  act  as  their  President  until  his  Majesty 
should    establish    a    government    among    them."" 

'Office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Hartford;  Towns  and  Lands, 
vol.  i.,  p.  21. 

°  Agreement  between  J^ohn  Scott  and  Governor  Stuyvesant. 

{Records  in  the  Department  of  State,  Albany^ 
Whereas,  January  4tli,  1663-4,  After  a  full  debate  between  John 
Scott,  Esq.,  President  of  the  English  of  ys  townes  of  Gravesend, 
Ffolstone,  Hastings,  Craflord,  Newwark  and  Hempsted,  in 
ye  audience  and  by  ye  free  consent  off  ye  greater  part  of  ye  sayd  in- 
habitants, who  declared  yt  it  was  ye  minds  off  all  their  neighbours, 
that  the  sayd  John  Scott  should  agitate  and  treat  wth  ye  Governor 
Stuyvesant  or  his  Councell,  in  ye  premised  capacity,  which  being  ac- 
cordingly effected,  articles  of  agreement  were  drawn  between  ye  sayd 
John  Scott  in  his  publike  capacity,  and  Captain  John  Young,  who 
averred  yt  it  was  the  desire  of  Conneticut  to  accomodate  such  a 
settlement,  as  was  agreed  vpon  between  ye  English  off  ye  townes 
above  sayd,  in  relation  to  the  Royalties  off  ye  King  off  England,  and 
the  maintenance  off  his  sayd  Maiesties  late  disposal  to  his  Royall 
Highnesse  James  Duke  off  Yorke  and  Albany,  Earle  of  Vlster,  Lord 
High  Admirall  off  England  ;  and  the  sayd  lord  Stuyvesant  and 
Councell,  having  met  John  Scott  aforesayd  according  to  agreement. 


A    COMBINATION.  287 

They  then  proclaimed  Charles  II.  as  their  "  dreade 
Sovereign  "  and  Captain  Scott  with  a  force  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  set  out  to  reduce  the  Dutch 
Towns  to  allegiance. 

notwithstanding  some  petty  iregularity  transacted  in  ye  sayd  townes, 
it  is  determined  betweene  John  Scott,  Esquire,  according  to  the 
premised  agreement  in  the  name  off  ye  King  of  England,  Charles 
ye  second,  our  dread  Sovereign,  and  off  His  Royall  Highnesse 
ye  Duke  off  York,  as  far  as  His  Highnesse  is  therein  concerned,  and 
ffor  ye  preservation  off  ye  good  people  off  ye  townes  aforesayd,  his 
Maiesties  good  subiects  and  ye  maintenance  of  the  articles  betwixt 
England  and  Holland,  and  ffor  the  prevention  off  ye  effesusion  off 
blood,  yt  the  English  off  Hemstead,  Newwark,  Crafford,  Hastings, 
Ffolestone  and  Gravesend,  and  any  other  English  on  the  sayd  Long 
Island,  shall  bee  and  remain  according  to  their  sayd  settlement, 
vnder  the  King  off  England,  without  lett  or  molestation  from  the 
Governor  Stuyvesant  and  Councell,  in  ye  name  off  our  Lords  the 
States  Generall,  and  the  Bewint  Hebbers  for  the  space  of  Twelve 
months,  and  long  (viz.)  vntill  his  Maiestie  off  England  and  the  States 
Generall  doe  ffuUy  determine  the  whole  difference  about  the  sayd 
Island  and  the  places  adjacent,  and  that  till  then  the  sayd  people  his 
Maiesties  good  subiects  and  his  Royalties  bee  not  invaded,  but  have 
free  egresse  and  regresse  to  ye  Manhatans,  (alias)  New  Amsterdam, 
and  all  other  places  wholly  possessed  by  the  Dutch,  according  to  the 
fformer  articles  off  January  ye  4th,  1663,  and  that  the  Dutch  shall 
have  free  egresse  and  regresse  in  all  or  any  off  ye  sayd  towns,  either 
in  negotiation  or  administration  of  iustice,  according  to  the  laws  off 
England,  without  any  respect  to  persons  or  Nations,  and  that 
ye  Dutch  towns  or  bouweries  shall  remain  under  ye  States  Generall 
ye  aforesaid  term,  His  Maiesties  Royalties  excepted  ;  and  that  the 
sayd  John  Scott,  nor  any  by  him,  shall  molest  in  his  Maiesties  name 
ye  sayd  Dutch  towns. 

To  the  performance  off  ye  premises  in  publicke  capacity,  the 
parties  to  these  presents  have  enterchangably  set  to  their  hands  and 
seals,  this  twentie  fourth  of  Ffebr.  Ano  1663-4.  In  the  sixteenth 
year  of  his  Maiesties  reign  King,  &c.  Jo.  Scott. 

Witnesse,    John  Vnderhill,        O.  Stevens  V.  Cortlandt, 
David  Denton,  J.  Backer, 

Adam  Mott,  John  Lawrence. 


288  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

His  raid  did  not  shake  their  loyalty;  Nieuw 
Utrecht  boldly  refused  to  recognise  the  king,  al- 
though the  English  were  in  possession  of  the  Block 
House.  Scott  made  himself  very  obnoxious  to  the 
people  of  Long  Island.  A  letter  to  Stuyvesant 
from  the  Delegates  of  The  Five  Towns,  speaks  of 
the  "  pretended  Captain  John  Scott  and  his  attendant 
mob  who  threatened  to  pursue  us  with  fire  and 
sword,  yea,  to  run  through  whoever  will  say  we  are 
not  seated  on  King's  ground."  His  appearance  at 
the  Ferry,  in  Breuckelen,  January  ii,  1664,  is  de- 
scribed as  being  with  "  a  troup  of  Englishmen 
mounted  on  horseback  with  great  noise  marching 
with  sounding  trumpets  so  that  the  Attestants  knew 
not  how  they  were  to  fare,  and  mounted  the  English 
flag."  Even  Mr.  Allyn,  the  Secretary  at  Hartford, 
a  year  later,  writes :  "  Wee  are  informed  that  Mr. 
John  Scott  according  to  his  wonted  course  is  agayne 
makeing  disturbance  among  the  people  of  Setawkett 
by  labouring  to  deprive  the  people  of  that  place  of 
the  land  expedient  for  their  subsistance." 

In  Nieuw  Amsterdam  it  was  held  that  the  West 
India  Company  was  responsible  for  the  disorder  on 
Long  Island,  inasmuch  as  none  of  the  revenue  of  the 
province  had  been  used  in  its  defence.  But  when 
the  Company  received  the  dispatches  of  November, 
1663,  they  demanded  from  the  States-General,  help 
against  Connecticut,  a  confirmation  of  their  Charter, 
a  mandatory  letter  to  the  Long  Island  towns,  and 
a  definite  adjustment  with  the  King  of  England. 
They  forced  compliance,  and  the  necessary  orders 
were  given,  January  23,  1664.     Had  all  this  been 


THE  HEMPSTEAD  MEETING.  289 

done  five  years  earlier,  the  Dutch  could  have  kept 
Nieuw  Nederlandt,  and  a  different  history  have  been 
written  upon  the  fair  Island,  the  cause  of  contention. 
Their  Ambassadors  at  London  were  directed  to 
insist  that  the  English  stand  by  the  Hartford  Treaty 
of  1650.  But  the  States-General  did  not  rightly 
measure  the  value  of  the  disputed  province,  while 
in  matters  of  state  policy  the  Binnenhof  was  no 
match  for  Whitehall.  An  act  under  the  Great  Seal 
declared  the  West  India  Company  authorised  to 
plant  colonies  in  any  unoccupied  part  of  the  New 
World  from  Newfoundland  to  the  Straits  of  Magel- 
lan. Letters  were  also  sent  to  the  various  towns 
charging  them  to  hold  their  allegiance  until  the 
boundary  question  was  settled  with  England. 

March  3,  1664,  a  meeting  was  held  at  Hempstead, 
from  the  earliest  settlement  a  centre  of  political 
influence.  Stuyvesant  and  his  associates,  the  Bur- 
gomaster van  Cortlandt  Jacobus  Backer  and  John 
Lawrence  met  John  Scott  and  the  deputies  of  the 
English  Towns,  who  were  Captain  John  Underhill, 
Daniel  Denton,  and  Adam  Mott.  It  was  then 
agreed  that  neither  Connecticut  nor  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt should  exercise  jurisdiction  over  the  disputed 
territory  of  Long  Island  and  Westchester,  for  twelve 
months,  until  the  King  and  the  States-General 
"  could  settle  the  whole  difficulty  about  the  Island 
and  the  places  adjacent." 

Many  of  the  English  tried  to  cut  the  Gordian 
knot  by  moving  farther  westward,  although  not  be- 
yond the  acknowledged  limits  of  Nieuw  Neder- 
landt.    In    1664,  John  Bailey,  Daniel  Denton,  and 


290  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Luke  Watson,  freemen  of  Jamaica,  bought  from  the 
Indians  the  lands  including  the  site  of  Elizabeth, 
New  Jersey.  Samuel  Smith,  the  venerable  historian 
of  Nova  Cmsarea,  wrote  that  "About  this  time 
there  was  a  great  resort  of  industrious  farmers,  the 
English  inhabitants  of  the  west  end  of  Long  Island 
who  almost  generally  removed  to  settle  hither,  and 
most  of  them  fixed  about  Middletown  from  whence 
by  degrees  they  extended  their  settlements  to  Free- 
hold and  thereabouts."  In  1682,  Jacques  Cortelyou 
and  partners  owned  the  greater  part  of  the  land  on 
which  Newark  has  been  built.  The  entire  eastern 
part  of  New  Jersey,  from  the  Hackensack  River  to 
Cape  May,  was  settled  chiefly  from  Long  Island. 

Nieuw  Nederlandt  was  much  alarmed  by  the  un- 
certain action  of  the  Hempstead  Meeting,  and 
greatly  feared  lest  she  lose  Long  Island,  the  "  Pearl 
of  the  Province."  Thereupon  the  Schout,  Burgo- 
masters, and  Schepens  of  Nieuw  Amsterdam  de- 
manded another  Landtdag.  It  was  held  on  April 
10,  1664,  and  attended  by  two  delegates  from  every 
one  of  the  Dutch  Towns."  It  called  upon  the 
Government  to  protect  them  from  the  "  malignant 
English,"  to  which  appeal  Stuyvesant  rephed  that 

'  Willem  Bredenbent 
Albert  Cornells  Wantenaar 


Breuckelen, 


JanStryker  j.  Midwout 

Willem  Guillems  ) 

Elbert  Elbertsen  )  ,         r      j-. 

^         „  \  Amersfoordt 

Coert  Stevensen  ) 

David  Jochemsen  [  Nieuw  Utrecht 

Cornells  Beeckman  ) 

Jan  van  Clef  )  _ 
Gysbert  Teunissen  Bogaert  ) 


"IN   TERMINIS."  291 

he  had  already  exceeded  his  powers,  and  that  he  had 
not  been  sustained  by  the  people.  This  Assembly, 
also,  dissolved  without  doing  anything  to  avert  the 
impending  fate.  The  matter  resolved  itself  into 
this:  the  States-General  would  not  commit  them- 
selves to  the  protection  and  defence  of  their  colonies 
in  America,'  and  the  West  India  Company  would 
not  risk  money  in  a  now  doubtful  enterprise. 

On  May  22d,  Hartford  sent  Mr.  Allyn  to  meet  the 
delegates  of  the  English  Towns  at  Hempstead,  and 
to  accept  them  as  in  the  Government  of  Connecti- 
cut, "  claiming  Long  Island  as  one  of  the  adjacent 
Islands  named  in  their  Charter."  On  June  lOth, 
Stuyvesant  wrote  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber: 

"  On  Long  Island,  matters  are  in  Terminis.  The 
five  Dutch  villages  with  their  dependencies  continue 
to  remain  so  far  under  your  jurisdiction  and  govern- 
ment— God  knows  how  long,  but  the  five  English 
villages,  Gravesend,  Heemstede  which  is  half  Eng- 
lish, half  Dutch,  Vlusshing,  Rustdorp  and  Middel- 
burg,  where  names  and  magistrates  were  changed, 
remain  in  revolt.  .  .  .  We  were  informed  yes- 
terday by  Captain  Thomas  Willet,  Mr.  John  Law- 
rence and  other  well-affected  Englishmen,  that  the 
letters  of  their  High  Mightinesses  made  no  impres- 
sion on  the  General  Court  at  Hartford."  (They  were 
believed  to  be  forgeries.)  Stuyvesant  continued: 
"  The  last  General  Court  at  Hartford  has  therefore 
resolved  and  decreed  to  reduce  the  whole  of  Long 

'  A  fortnight  later,  Stuyvesant  wrote  again  to  the  Directors  for 
"  means  to  preserve  the  Dutch  rule  on  Long  Island,  and  to  keep  oif 
the  rebellious  troops  of  John  Scott." 


292  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Island  and  to  establish  their  government  there. 
You  can  easily  judge  what  will  be  the  fate  of  the 
remaining  part  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt  if  this  should 
happen,  if  the  English  subdued  Long  Island,  the 
key  to  the  North  River."  The  entire  correspond- 
ence between  Stuyvesant  and  the  Directors  .shows 
that  he  foresaw  the  end,  and  that  he  received  no 
support  from  the  Company. 

Finally,  in  June,  Governor  John  Winthrop,  whom 
O'Callaghan  declares  "  was  head  and  front  of  the 
opposition  to  the  Dutch,  experienced  on  Long 
Island,"  and  the  Hartford  deputies  visited  Hemp- 
stead, deposed  the  magistrate  selected  under  Scott's 
pseudo-presidency,  and  promised  their  help  against 
any  resistance  to  the  rule  of  Connecticut. 


XIII. 


THE  ENGLISH  CONQUEST  AND  ORGANISATION. 


WHILE  all  influences  and  action  on  this  side 
the  Atlantic  were  converging  toward  the 
end,  on  March  22,  1664,  Charles  II.  gave 
to  the  Duke  of  York  a  Patent  including  the  territory 
of  the  Nieuw  Nederlandt.  It  embraced  "all  that 
part  of  the  Mainland  of  New-England  beginning  at 
a  certain  place  called  or  known  by  the  name  of  St. 
Croix,  next  adjoining  New  Scotland  in  America. 
.  .  .  Also,  that  island  or  islands  commonly  called 
by  the  several  name  or  names  of  Meitowacks,  or 
Long-island,  situate  and  being  toward  the  west  of 
Cape  Cod'and  the  Narrow  Higansetts,  abutting  upon 
the  main  land  between  the  two  rivers  there  called  or 
known  by  the  several  names  of  Connecticut  and 
Hudson  River." 

A  month  later,  Colonel  Nicoll,  Sir  Robert  Carr, 
Colonel  George  Cartwright,  and  Samuel  Maverick  of 
Massachusetts  were  appointed  commissioners  to  ex- 
amine the  state  of  New  England.  In  Clarendon's 
draft  of  the  King's  private  instructions  they  were 
assured  that  "  A  great  end  of  the  design  is  the  pos- 

Z93 


294  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

session  of  Long  Island  and  reducing  the  people  to 
an  entire  submission  to  us  and  our  government,  now 
vested  by  our  Grant  and  commission  in  our  brother, 
the  Duke  of  York." 

James  was  impatient  to  enjoy  the  revenues  of  his 
new  domain,  estimated  at  thirty  thousand  pounds, 
and  plans  were  quickly  made  to  take  possession  of 
the  country.  Colonel  Richard  Nicoll,'  a  devoted 
Royalist  who  had  served  with  James  under  Turenne, 
was  commander  of  the  fleet  prepared.^  It  sailed  from 
Portsmouth,  May  iSth,  and  the  vessels  were  ordered 
to  meet  in  Gardiner's  Bay.  Nicoll,  on  the  Guinea, 
reached  Boston  after  a  long  voyage,  and  wrote  to 
Winthrop  demanding  the  help  of  Connecticut. 
Finally,  the  fleet  anchored  in  Nayack  Bay,  between 
Nieuw  Utrecht  and  Coney  Island,  August  i8th. 
There,  Colonel  Nicoll  gave  license  to  Mr.  John  Coe 
and  Mr.  Elias  Walls  "  to  have  full  libertie  to  beat 
their  drums  for  the  end  and  purpose  "  of  recruiting 
soldiers  on  Long  Island  to  serve  against  the  Dutch. 

'  Nicoll  had  left  Oxford,  where  he  had  already  distinguished  him- 
self, to  join  the  King's  forces.  He  fought  throughout  the  Civil 
Wars,  and  there  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  royal  family.  His  ex- 
perience on  the  Continent  as  a  free  lance  had  placed  him  under  such 
commanders  as  Don  John  of  Austria,  the  Prince  of  Conde,  and  Mar- 
shall Turenne. 

^  The  fleet  consisted  of  four  vessels  manned  by  four  hundred  and 
fifty  soldiers  : 

The  Guinea,  with  thirty-six  guns  ; 
The  Elias,  with  thirty  guns  ; 
The  Martin,  with  sixteen  guns  ; 
The  William  and  Nicholas,  with  ten  guns. 
Mr.  Brodhead  gives  the  name  of  the  flag-ship  as  the  Guinea. 
Several  others  write  the  Gurney. 


NICOLVS  FLEET.  295 

On  August  25th,  two  of  the  ships  landed  their 
troops  at  Gravesend.  The  inhabitants  of  Long 
Island  were  summoned  thither  to  meet  the  Royal 
Commission.  Winthrop  and  Wyllys  were  also  pres- 
ent. NicoU  announced  the  Duke's  Patent  and  called 
for  the  submission  of  Long  Island  to  his  authority, 
but  offered  to  the  people  all  the  privileges  of  loyal 
subjects.  To  the  Eastern  Towns  which  had  been 
annexed  to  Connecticut,  Winthrop  declared  that  its 
jurisdiction  now  "ceased  and  became  null." 

The  troops  then  marched  in  scarlet  array  to  the 
ferry  at  Breuckelen,  where  they  were  met  by  volun- 
teers from  Long  Island '  and  from  New  England. 
The  other  ships  meanwhile  sailed  up  the  beautiful 
bay,  where  seals  still  basked  on  the  rocks  of  Robyn's 
Rift "  and  tall  trees  waved  on  Poggank,  to  anchor 
near  the  city. 

The  end  had  come.  "  Long  Island  is  gone  and 
lost,"  sorrowfully  wrote  Stuyvesant  on  the  night  of 
the  22d,  as  he  once  more  addressed  the  West  India 
Company  on  "  the  Perilous  and  Alarming  situation." 
The  ultimatum  had  been  offered,  its  acceptance 
forced  upon  the  Director-General  by  his  faint- 
hearted subordinates,  the  prudent  burghers  angry 
at  the  continued  indifference  of  the  Company,  choos- 
ing the  generous  terms  of  Nicoll,  rather  than  risk 
the  storming  of  their  town.  The  Articles  of  Capit- 
ulation were  signed  August  27th,  at  Stuyvesant's 
Bouwerie.     The  city  was  given  up  on  August  29th. 

'  A  body  of  militia  had  come  from  the   Eastern  Towns,  under 
Captain  John  Youngs. 
'  The  Seals'  Place,  now  Robbins'  Reef. 


296  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Nieuw  Nederlandt  was  no  more.  Long  Island  was 
for  the  first  time  under  one  government,  and  that 
not  of  its  original  discoverers  or  planters. 

England  was  tardily  ashamed  of  this  lawless  cap- 
ture in  time  of  peace,  and  has  often  attempted  to 
disown  any  responsibility  therein.  But  a  letter  to 
The  Hague  from  the  Dutch  Ambassador  in  London, 
under  date  of  November  7, 1664,  distinctly  says  that 
the  King  in  a  recent  audience  granted  him,  "  de- 
clared in  round  and  positive  terms  that  the  capture 
of  Nieuw  Nederlandt  was  done  with  his  knowledge 
and  consent." 

The  passing  of  Nieuw  Nederlandt  from  Dutch  to 
English  ownership  was  only  a  question  of  time.  For 
twenty-five  years  all  events  had  trended  toward  such 
an  end,  but  the  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York  and  the 
orders  for  its  seizure  were  disgraceful  to  England. 
In  a  discussion  thereon  between  Sir  George  Downing 
and  the  Dutch  Minister,  the  former  said  :  "  So  far 
from  the  affair  of  New  Netherland  being  a  surprise, 
this  tract  of  country  is  situate  within  the  New  Eng- 
land patent ;  the  Dutch  resided  there  only  by  con- 
nivance and  precariously  ;  that  such  permission  had 
been  signified  to  them  from  year  to  year  upon  cer- 
tain conditions,  and  that  they  had  drawn  this  visi- 
tation upon  themselves  by  their  aggressions  and 
provocations."  To  which  arrogant  defence,  it  was 
replied  that  "  were  those  incursions  and  provoca- 
tions to  be  enumerated  and  described,  they  would 
be  found  on  par  with  that  whereof  the  Wolf  accused 
the  Lamb,  viz. :  of  having  muddied  the  water,  al- 
though she  drank  at  the  lower  end  of  the  stream." 


PIETER   STUYVESAN7\  2gy 

In  the  troublous  times  of  the  past  ten  years,  Pieter 
Stuyvesant  was  among  the  leaders,  the  only  hero. 
He  was  of  a  fiery,  irascible  type,  ardent  in  love 
of  country  and  in  zeal  for  its  interests,  but  lacking 
in  self-control  and  in  any  conception  of  a  broad 
statesmanship.  Egbert  Benson,  however,  well  said 
of  him  :  "In  fine,  the  whole  of  his  duties  and 
character  being  considered,  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  the  chief  magistracy  among  us  has  ever 
been  confided  to  a  person  of  greater  worth."  He 
went  to  Holland  in  the  next  spring  to  render  his 
account  to  the  West  India  Company.  He  begins 
his  statement  by  saying  that  "  sustained  by  the 
tranquillity  of  an  upright  and  loyal  heart,  he  was 
moved  to  abandon  all,  even  his  most  beloved  wife, 
to  inform  their  most  illustrious  Highnesses  of  the 
true  state  of  the  case."  He  says  that  when  he 
assumed  the  government,  "the  Vlacktelandt  was 
stripped  of  its  inhabitants  to  such  a  degree  that 
with  the  exception  of  the  three  English  villages  of 
Heemstede,  New  Flushing  and  Gravesend,  there 
were  not  fifty  bouweries  or  plantations,  and  the 
whole  province  could  not  muster  250,  or  at  most, 
300  men  capable  of  bearing  arms."  Resistance  was 
a  forlorn  hope  in  a  state  few  in  numbers  and  waver- 
ing in  allegiance.  The  Company,  in  their  comment 
upon  this  report,  presented  to  the  States-General, 
emphasise  the  fact  that  in  Stuyvesant's  administra- 
tion "  the  country  was  brought  from  a  little  colony 
to  a  rising  Republic,"  but  they  do  not  justify  its 
surrender,  and  try  to  prove  his  reasons  of  no 
weight. 


298  EARL  y  LONG  ISLAND. 

When  two  years  later,  in  the  Treaty  of  Breda,  the 
Company  formally  gave  up  Nieuw  Nederlandt  to 
England,  Stuyvesant  returned  to  New  York.  There, 
for  a  few  years,  he  lived  a  quiet  country  life  on  his 
"  outlying  farm,"  now  far  down  town,  and  he  is 
buried  thereon  in  a  vault  beneath  the  little  chapel 
he  had  built.  This  St.-Marks-in-the-Fields  was  re- 
placed in  1802  by  the  present  St.  Mark's  Church,  on 
whose  eastern  foundation  wall  is  inserted  the  burial 
stone  thus  inscribed  : 

"In  this  vault  lies  buried 

Petrus  Stuyvesant 

I,ate  Captain-General  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  Amsterdam 

in  New  Netherland  now  called  New  York 

&  the  Dutch  West  India  Islands  :  died  in  Feb.  167J 

Aged  80  years." 

No  political  freedom,  the  illusion  of  the  New 
England  immigrants,  was  gained  by  the  English 
Conquest.  The  Court  of  Assize,  to  which  was 
given  "  supreme  power  of  making,  altering  and 
abolishing  any  laws  of  New  York,"  was  no  demo- 
cratic assembly.  To  this  Court  came  at  its  yearly 
meetings,  besides  the  Governor  and  Council  in 
whose  hands  was  the  entire  power,  the  High  Sheriff 
and  the  Justices  of  the  lower  courts,  who  were 
meant  to  be  altogether  subservient  to  the  Governor. 
The  condition  of  New  York  was  anomalous.  It  had 
no  charter  ;  it  was  not  a  royal  province.  As  a  pro- 
prietary government  it  in  no  way  enjoyed  the  liberal 
polity  of  Lord  Baltimore  nor  the  beneficence  which 
Penn  later  exercised.     It  was  conquered  territory. 


ANOMALOUS  CONDITION  OF  NEW    YORK.     299 

All  power  of  legislation  was  retained  by  James,  and 
deputed  by  him  to  his  governors  and  to  the  Courts 
controlled  by  them.  The  first  of  these  royal  govern- 
ors was  Colonel  Nicoll,  who  for  four  years  wisely 
administered  the  affairs  of  the  new  province  in  the 
best  interests  of  the  people. 

Nicoll  was  empowered  to  settle  the  boundary  dis- 
putes with  the  other  Colonies  and  an  adjustment 
of  the  Connecticut  line '  was  made  at  Fort  James, 
December  i,  1664.  In  this  conference  it  was  deter- 
mined that  "  Long  Island  is  to  be  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  his  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  York. 
Governor  Winthrop  thereupon  renounced,  more  ex- 
plicitly than  he  had  done  at  Gravesend,  the  claims 
of  Connecticut,  saying :  "  What  they  had  done,  had 
been  for  the  welfare,  peace  and  quiet  settlement  of 
his  Majesty's  subjects,  as  being  the  nearest  organ- 
ised government."  But  now  that  his  Majesty's 
pleasure  was  fully  signified  by  his  letters  patent, 
their  jurisdiction  had  ceased  and  become  null. 

There  was  great  need  of  uniform  legislation  and 
an  established  judiciary.     To  these  details  of  admin- 

■  Connecticut  has  never  understood  the  real  hold  of  the  Dutch 
upon  the  territory  they  coveted.  Even  now,  her  ablest  historian 
writes  :  "  Long  Island  had  never  been  more  than  nominally  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Dutch.  They  had  planted  a  few  farms  on  the 
western  end,  but  the  rest  of  the  Island  was  a  wilderness. — Johnson's 
Connecticut,  p.  136. 

Another  instance  of  the  long-standing  jealousy  between  New  York 
and  New  England  is  seen  in  a  letter  from  Nicoll  to  Clarendon,  ad- 
vising a  direct  trade  between  New  York  and  Holland,  adding  that 
"  the  strength  and  flourishing  condition  of  this  place  will  bridle  the 
Ambititious  Saints  of  Boston." 


300 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


istration,  Nicoll  applied  himself  with  ardour.  Early 
in  February,  1665,  he  issued  a  circular-letter  setting 
forth  his  purpose  "  to  settle  good  and  known  laws." 
He  invited  the  towns,  every  one,  to  send  two  dele- 
gates, "  the  most  sober,  able  and  discrete  persons," 
chosen  by  the  taxpayers  in  General  Town  Meeting. 
Thirty-four  delegates '  assembled  in  the  famous 
Hempstead  Convention,  February  28,  1665.  The 
session  lasted  ten  days,  and  then  were  enacted  many 


'  Jacques  Cortelyou 

Fosse 

Elbert  Elbertsen 
Roeleff  Martense 
James  Hubbard 
John  Bowne 
Jan  Stryker 
Hendrick  Jorassen 
John  Stealman 
Guisbert  Teunis , 
Daniel  Denton 
Thomas  Benedict 
John  Hicks 
Robert  Jackson 
John  Underhill 
Matthias  Harvey 
Jonas  Wood 
John  Ketchum 
Daniel  Lane 
Roger  Barton 
William  Wells 
John  Youngs 
Thomas  Topping 
John  Howell 
Thos.  Baker 
John  Stratton 
John  Quinby 
Edward  Jessup 


j-Ni 


Nieuw  Utrecht 


!•  Nieuw  Amersfoordt 


>■  Gravesend 
\  riatbasch 
[•  Boswyck 


Jamaica 


[ 

j-  Hempstead 
t  Oyster  Bay 
[■  Huntington 
[■  Brookhaven 
!•  Southold 
[■  Southampton 


[•  Easthampton 
\  Westchester 


THE  HEMPSTEAD   CONVENTION.  30I 

of  the  celebrated  "  Duke's  Laws,"  said  to  have  been 
written  by  Lord  Clarendon.' 

Nicoll  opened  the  Convention  by  reading  the 
Duke's  Patent  and  his  own  commission.  He  then 
announced  that  he  had  prepared  a  body  of  laws 
similar  to  those  in  force  in  New  England,  but,  "  with 
abatement  of  severity  against  such  as  differ  in  mat- 
ters of  conscience  and  of  Religion."  The  code  was 
in  penalties  essentially  the  same,  but  blasphemy 
and  witchcraft  were  not  included  among  the  eleven 
capital  crimes.  There  was  provision  for  equal  taxa- 
tion, for  trial  by  jury ;  the  tenure  of  land  was  re- 
established, as  held  from  the  Duke ;  all  old  patents 
were  recalled  and  new  ones  required,  the  heavy  fees 
for  which  were  among  the  governor's  chief  per- 
quisites. No  land  purchase  from  the  Indians  was 
to  be  made  without  his  consent."  All  transactions 
with  the.  Indians  were  to  be  conducted  "  as  if  the 
case  were  between  Christian  and  Christian."  No 
Indian  was  to  be  "  suffered  to  Powow  or  to  perform 
outward  worship  to  the  devil." 

The  Church  of  England  was  not  nominally  estab- 

'  "The  Duke's  Laws"  were  not  all  passed  in  1665,  but  were 
added  to  from  tim&.to  time.  They  were  first  collected  under  that 
name  in  1674.  Manuscript  copies  of  the  code  were  placed  in  the 
Clerk's  Office  of  each  County  when  that  division  was  made.  In 
many  respects  the  code  was  specially  adapted  to  Long  Island,  but  it 
was  intended  for  the  whole  Province,  so  soon  as  the  people  of  the 
Hudson  River  Valley  should  learn  the  English  language.  The 
Dutch  institutions  could  be  changed  only  by  slow  degrees,  and  by 
the  processes  of  growth. 

'  At  the  first  Court  of  Assize,  held  in  New  York,  in  October,  1665, 
the  chief  sachems  of  Long  Island  came  and  submitted  to  Governor 
Nicoll. 


302  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

lished,  but  the  laws  worked  to  that  end  ;  every  par- 
ish was  required  to  build  and  maintain  a  church  by 
public  rates.  No  minister  was  to  officiate,  who 
"  had  not  received  ordination  from  some  Bishop  or 
Minister "  of  the  Anglican  Church.'  Prayers  for 
the  royal  family  were  required  ;  services  were  to  be 
held  on  the  historic  days  of  November  fifth,  January 
thirtieth,  and  May  twenty-ninth.  Minute  sumptu- 
ary laws  were  enacted  which  indicate  the  manners 
of  the  time  and  the  simple  mode  of  life.  Innkeepers 
were  not  allowed  "  to  charge  above  8d  a  meal  with 
small  beer." 

The  delegates  were  not  satisfied.  They  had  un- 
derstood Nicoll's  promises  to  mean  equal  freedom, 
or  greater  than  was  possessed  by  the  New  England 
colonies.  They  desired,  especially  Southold,  that 
all  civil  officers  should  be  chosen  by  the  freemen,  all 
military  officers  by  the  soldiers ;  that  no  magistrate 
"  should  have  any  yearly  maintenance  "  ;  that  taxes 
should  be  imposed  only  with  the  consent  of  deputies 
to  a  General  Court.  The  Code  allowed  none  of 
these  privileges.  There  was  much  debate  over  sep- 
arate articles ;  many  amendments  were  proposed, 
some  of  which  Nicoll  accepted,  but,  weary  with 
wordy  wrangling,  he  finally  assured  the  delegates 
that  if  they  wished  any  greater  share  in  the  govern- 
ment than  his  instructions  allowed  him  to  give,  they 
"  must  go  to  the  King  for  it." 

Careful  attention  was  given  to  the  organisation  of 

■  Lord  Cornbury  was  unjustly  blamed  for  bigotry.  The  royal 
orders  to  the  colonial  government  left  him  no  other  course  than  to 
suppress  all  unlicensed  preachers. 


THE  JUDICIARY.  303 

a  Judiciary.  The  High  Sheriff  of  Yorkshire  '  was 
yearly  to  appoint  a  Deputy  for  each  Riding.  Two 
Justices,  holding  ofifice  during  the  Governor's  pleas- 
ure, were  given  every  town.  The  towns  were  allowed, 
yearly,  on  the  first  day  of  April,  to  elect  a  constable 
and  eight  overseers  (later,  only  four),  "  men  of  good 
fame  and  life,"  who  were  also  assessors,  and  with  the 
constables  regulated  the  lesser  affairs  of  the  town. 
Two  of  the  overseers  were  chosen  to  "  make  a  rate  " 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  church  and  the  clergy- 
man, and  for  the  support  of  the  poor.  From  the 
overseers  the  Constable  selected  the  jurors  to  attend 
the  Courts  of  Sessions  and  Assize.  The  Court  of 
Assize  was  the  highest  tribunal,  subordinate  only  to 
the  Governor  and  the  Duke.  It  was  composed  of 
the  Governor,  his  Council,  and  the  Magistrates  of 
the  several  towns,  meeting  yearly  in  New  York.  It 
was  a  Court  of  Equity  as  well  as  of  Common  Law, 
holding  original  jurisdiction  in  suits  of  over  twenty 

'  At  the  dose  of  the  Convention,  Governor  Nicoll  appointed  Wil- 
liam Wells  of  Southold  as  High  Sheriff,  John  Underhill  as  High 
Constable  and  Surveyor-General,  and,  as  Justices  : 

Daniel  Denton  of  Jamaica, 

John  Hicks  of  Hempstead, 

Jonas  Wood  of  Huntington, 

James  Hubbard  of  Gravesend. 
The  High  Sheriffs  of  Yorkshire,  until  its  division  into  the  present 
counties,  in  1683,  were  the  following  : 

1665-69,  William  Wells, 

1669-72,  Robert  Coe, 

1672-75,  John  Manning, 

1675-76,  Sylvester  Salisbury, 

1676-79,  Thomas  Willet, 

1679-81,  Richard  Betls, 

1681-83,  John  Youngs. 


304  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

pounds,  and  appellate  in  lesser  amounts.  This 
Court  was  finally  given  up,  as  "  causing  great  charge 
to  the  Province,"  and  because  so  many  of  the  Town 
Justices  were  declared  "  not  fit  and  capable  to  hear 
and  determine  matters  of  a  civil  nature,"  an  asper- 
sion whose  injustice  needs  no  comment.  Its  last 
session  was  held  under  Sir  Edmond  Andros,  in 
October,  1680. 

The  Court  of  Sessions  presided  over  by  the  High 
Sheriff  was  held  half-yearly  in  each  Riding.  It  was 
made  up  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  from  the  sev- 
eral towns  of  the  Riding.  They  were  at  first  given 
a  salary  of  twenty  pounds,  but  later,  only  an  allow- 
ance for  necessary  expenses.  Its  authority  extended 
to  civil  cases  over  five  pounds,  and  to  criminal  cases, 
decided  by  the  major  "  part "  of  the  jurors.  In 
capital  cases,  the  twelve  jurors  must  be  unanimous. 
The  Duke's  Laws  further  provided  that  a  pillory 
should  be  erected  wherever  the  Court  was  in  session, 
while  every  town  had  its  stocks.  The  official  ex- 
penses of  the  town  were  met  by  a  direct  tax  on  all 
property,  real  and  personal.  The  charges  for  the 
Ridings  were  fixed  by  the  Governor  and  Council, 
and  were  usually  one  penny  per  pound. 

The  Eastern  Towns,  clinging  to  the  usage  and 
the  political  ideal  of  the  New  England  Colonies,  pe- 
titioned the  King  for  a  representative  government. 
Charles,  always  glad  to  shirk  any  personal  responsi- 
bility, refused  to  interfere  with  the  Patent  to  the 
Duke.  Discontented  with  the  separation  from  Con- 
necticut, and  rebellious  against  the  new  authority, 
they  refused  to  pay  the  taxes,  or  to  elect  the  officers 


"A   NARRATIVE  AND  REMONSTRANCE."     305 

required  by  the  Duke's  Laws.  Their  dissatisfaction 
led  the  men  who  had  been  their  delegates  to  the 
Hempstead  Convention,  to  draw  up  "A  Narrative 
and  Remonstrance,"  which  was  recorded  in  all  the 
towns,  in  order  that  "  Future  Ages  may  not  be  sea- 
soned with  the  sour  malice  of  such  unreasonable 
and  groundless  aspersions." 

When  the  renewal  of  the  land  patents  was  ordered, 
Southampton  refused  to  comply.  As  bought  and 
settled  under  the  patent  to  Lord  Sterling,  the  peo- 
ple did  not  consider  another  grant  necessary.  NicoU 
might  well  say  that  "  Long  Island  gave  more  trouble 
than  all  the  Dutch."  In  1670  the  Court  of  Assize 
declared  the  Southampton  titles  invalid  unless  re- 
newed by  the  Duke's  government.  This  decision 
was  quickly  followed  by  "  The  Southampton  Re- 
monstrance" dated  February  15,  1671.  It  was 
signed  by  fifty  freeholders  who  refused  to  acknow- 
ledge James  as  the  proprietor  of  the  Island,  and 
called  the  requisition  for  new  patents  "  a  greivance  " 
which  "  would  make  them  and  their  Posteritie  Groan 
like  Israel  and  Egypt."  Nicoll  appointed  commis- 
sioners to  confer  with  the  town,  but  the  difiSculty 
was  not  adjusted  for  several  years. 

Southold,  Southampton,  and  Easthampton  per- 
sisted in  their  opposition.  In  1673,  they  presented, 
at  Whitehall,  a  petition  setting  forth  their  "  time 
and  expense  in  establishing  the  whale-fishery,"  but 
which  they  could  bring  to  no  perfection  until  within 
two  or  three  years  past."  They  complained  of  too 
heavy  taxes  laid  upon  their  industry  by  the  Governor 
of  New  York ;  they  had  "  been  under  the  govern- 


306  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

ment  of  Mr.  Winthrop  belonging  to  Conitycot 
patent  which  lyeth  far  more  convenient  for  ye  Peti- 
tioners assistance  in  ye  aforesaid  trade,  wherefore 
humbly  praying  they  may  be  continued  under  Mr. 
Winthrop,"  etc.  In  the  final  Treaty  of  Westminster, 
between  England  and  Holland,  in  1674,  Connecticut 
once  more  tried  to  gain  possession  of  the  three 
Eastern  Towns. 

While  some  laws  of  the  original  code  were  felt  to 
be  oppressive.  Long  Island  objected  more  strongly 
to  others  that  were  made  early  in  the  administration 
of  Colonel  Lovelace,  and  determined  to  seek  redress. 
Hempstead,  Jamaica,  Oyster  Bay,  Flushing,  New- 
town, and  Gravesend  joined  in  a  petition  to  the 
Governor,  October  9,  1669.  They  referred  to  the 
proclamation  of  Nicoll  in  which  it  was  promised 
that  "  they  should  enjoy  all  such  privileges  as  his 
Majesty's  other  subjects  in  America  enjoyed."  Of 
these  privileges  they  affirmed  the  most  important 
to  be  a  share  in  making  their  laws  "  by  such  depu- 
ties as  shall  be  yearly  chosen  by  the  freeholders  of 
every  town  and  parish."  The  petition  was  graciously 
received  ;  some  minor  specifications  were  granted, 
but  no  attention  was  given  to  the  main  point  at  issue. 

The  people  still  complained  bitterly  that  there 
was  no  General  Assembly.  They  felt  themselves 
disfranchised,  and  at  the  mercy  of  an  absolute  gov- 
ernment. The  New  England  colonists  had  brought 
with  them  the  principle  so  early  enunciated  in 
Easthampton,  that  taxation  and  representation  are 
inseparable.  When  a  tax  to  repair  Fort  James  was 
laid  on  the  Long  Island  towns,  they  either  refused 


DEPRIVED   OF  LIBERTIES  OF  ENGLISHMEN.    307 

its  payment,  or,  coupled  a  reluctant  submission  with 
the  condition  that  "  Privileges  such  as  other  of  his 
Majesty's  subjects  in  these  parts  have  and  do  enjoy, 
may  be  obtained,  but  not  otherwise."  Huntington 
refused,  because  "  deprived  of  the  liberties  of  Eng- 
lishmen." Jamaica  .regarded  the  demand  as  the 
entering  wedge  for  extortion  "  till  there  be  no 
end,"  although  "  if  it  can  be  shown  to  be  the  King's 
absolute  order,"  they  will  "  with  patience  rest  under 
the  said  burdens  until  address  be  made  unto  the 
King  for  relief." 

When  these  protests  were  presented  to  the  Court 
of  Sessions  for  the  West  Riding,  sitting  at  Graves- 
end,  the  Court,  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Colony 
presiding,  pronounced  the  papers  to  be  "scanda- 
lous, illegal,  seditious,  tending  only  to  disaffect  all 
peaceable  well-meaning  subjects  of  his  Majesty." 
The  complaint  was  referred  to  the  Governor  and 
Council  to  act  as  would  best  "  tend  to  the  sup- 
pression of  false  "suggestions  and  jealousies  in 
the  minds  of  peaceable  and  well-meaning  subjects, 
alienating  them  from  their  duty  and  obedience  to 
the  laws."  Governor  Lovelace  ordered  the  papers 
to  be  publicly  burned  before  the  Town  House  of 
New  York  at  the  next  Mayor's  Court. 

Dissensions  increased  during  the  first  decade  of 
the  English  Government.  The  Western  Towns  had 
not  only  refused  aid  in  fortifying  New  York,  but 
were  ripe  for  rebellion  and  ready  to  welcome  back 
the  Dutch  rulers  for  whose  expulsion  they  had  pre- 
pared the  way.  So  it  was  that  Cornelis  Evertsen 
and  Jacob  Benckes  sailed  quietly  up  the  Bay,  and 


308  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

July  30,  1673,  the  standard  of  the  United  Nether- 
lands floated  once  more  over  Manhattan,  and  Cap- 
tain Colve  issued  orders  from  Fort  Willem  Hendrick. 
On  September  8th,  the  Corporation  of  New  Orange 
addressed  the  States-General,  saying :  "  This  province 
to  the  great  joy  of  its  good  inhabitants,  reduced 
again  into  obedience  to  your  High  Mightinesses 
and  his  Serene  Highness,  their  lawful  and  native 
Sovereign,  from  whose  protection  they  were  cut  off 
about  nine  years  ago,  in  time  of  peace."  They  rep- 
resent "  the  advantage  the  province  might  be  made 
to  the  Father-land  as  a  home  for  families  ruined  by 
the  French  invasion,"  while  it  might  soon  become 
"  a  granary  and  magazine  of  many  necessaries  and 
specially  important  as  a  naval  station  and  watch- 
tower  to  observe  the  King  of  England."  Yet  with- 
out timely  reinforcements  the  Dutch  could  not  hold 
their  ground. 

Two  weeks  after  the  recapture  of  New  York,  a 
proclamation  summoned  every  Long  Island  town  to 
send  deputies  to  New  Orange  once  more  to  swear 
allegiance  to  the  States-General.  The  Five  Dutch 
Towns  and  Gravesend  immediately  and  gladly 
obeyed.  The  towns  of  the  North  Riding  were 
warned  not  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Dutch 
government,  which  indeed  they  had  no  wish  to  do. 
But  the  East  Riding  was  thoroughly  aroused  against 
the    new    authority.'^  Southampton,    "struck   with 

'  The  Report  of  the  Council  of  Trade  on  the  recapture  of  New 
York  tells  the  King  :  "  It  is  very  probable  that  ye  English  Inhabi- 
tants who  possess  ye  East  part  of  Long  Island  and  are  in  farr 
ye  greater  number,  have  not  yett  submitted  to  ye  Dutch,  nor  will 


RESISTANCE  BY   THE  EAST  RIDING.         309 

amazement  "  at  the  sudden  turn  in  affairs,  asked 
help  from  Hartford.  The  protest  of  the  Eastern 
Towns  against  the  Dutch  was  embodied  in  a  memo- 
rial written  at  Jamaica,  August  14th  : 

"  Whereas,  wee  ye  Inhabitants  of  ye  East  Riding 
of  Long  Island :  (namely  Sout  Hampton,  East 
Hampton,  Sout  Hoold,  Setaucok  and  Huntington) 
were  sometime  rightly  and  peaceaffully  joyned  with 
Hertford  jurisdiction  to  good  satisffaction  on  both 
sides,  butt  about  ye  yeare  1664  Gen"  Richard  Nicolls 
comeing  in  ye  nam  off  his  Ma''°^  Roiall  Highness 
ye  Duke  off  Yorcke,  and  by  power  subjected  us  to 
ye  Government  under  w'='^  wee  have  remained  untill 
this  present  time,  and  now  by  turne  of  God's  provi- 
dence shipps  off  fforce  belonging  to  ye  states  of 
Holland  have  taken  New  Yorcke  ye  30th  of  last 
month  and  wee  haveing  noe  Intelligence  to  day 
ffrom  o'  Govern''  Fra=  Lovelace  Esquy""  off  what 
hath  happenned,  or  whatt  wee  are  to  doe.  But  ye 
General  of  ye  said  Dutch  fforce  hath  sent  to  us  his 
Declaration  or  Summons  with  a  serious  comunica- 
tion  therein  contained,  and  since  wee  understand  bij 
ye  poste  bringing  ye  said  Document  that  our  Gov- 
ern' is  peaceably  and  respectfully  entertained  with 
ye  said  ffort  and  City,  wee,  ye  Inhabitants  off  ye 
said  East  Ryding,  or  o''  Deputies  ffor  us  att  a  meet- 
ing, doe  make  these  o'  requests  as  follows." 

ye  enemy  be  in  condiCon  to  reduce  them  until  they  have  received 
new  recruits  from  Europe.  And  therefore  if  force  be  speedily  sent 
from  hence  before  they  have  yielded  themselves  they  will  bee  ready 
and  in  good  posture  to  assist  in  ye  retaking  of  New  York." — Board 
Journals,  cxxii.,  p.  65,  November  15,  1673. 


3IO 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


Ten  requisitions  follow ;  the  most  significant  are 
quoted. 

"  Imprimis,  that  yff  wee  come  under  ye  dutch 
govern'  wee  desire  yt  wee  maij  retaine  o"^  Ecclesiasti- 
call  Privileges,  viz :  to  worship  God  according  to 
o'  belieffe  without  anij  imposition. 

"  4ly,  That  we  maij  alwayes  have  libertie  to  chuse 
o'  own  officers  both  civil  and  military. 

"  5ly,  That  these  5  Towns  maij  bee  a  corporation 
off  themselves  to  end  all  matters  of  difference  be- 
tween Man  and  Man,  excepting  onely  cases  con- 
cerning Lijffe  and  Limbe. 

"  61y,  That  no  lawe  maij  bee  made  nor  tax  im- 
posed upon  ye  people  at  anij  time  but  such  as  shall 
bee  consented  unto  bij  ye  deputies  of  ye  respective 
Townes. 

"  7ly  That  wee  maij  have  free  Trade  with  ye  na- 
tion now  in  power  and  all  others  without  paying 
custome. 

"  Sly  In  everij  respect  to  have  equal  previledge 
with  ye  dutch  nation.     .     .     . 
"  East  Hampton      [   Thos.  James 
John  Jessup 
Joseph  Raynor 
Thos.  Hutchinson 
Isacq  Arnold  Depiit." 

Richard  Woodhull 
Andrew  Miller 
Isaq  Piatt 
Thos.  Kidmore 
On  August  29th  Captain  William   Knyft,  Lieu- 


South  Hampton  >■ 
Sovth  Hoold        I 


Brooke  Havn 


Huntington 


REPORT  FROM    THE    WESTERN    TOWNS.      3II 

tenant  Jeronimus  Hubert,  and  the  Clerk,  Ephraim 
Heennans,  commisioned  to  administer  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  Western  Towns,  report  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  Midwout,       73  men  all  of  whom  took  the  oath. 
Amersfoordt,  48     "      "    "       "  "       "      " 

Breuckelen  and  dependencies,  81  men,  52  of  whom 
took  the  oath ;  the  remainder  ordered  to  take 
it  from  the  Magistrates  of  Nieuw  Utrecht. 
Nieuw  Utrecht,  41  men  all  of  whom  took  the  oath. 
Buswyck  35     "      "    "      "         "      "       " 

except  Humphrey  Clay  who  is  a  Quaker. 
Hemstede,  107. men,  51  men  have  taken  the  oath, 
the   remainder  absent  and  ordered   as   above. 
Among  them  are  20  Dutch. 
Rustdorp,  63  men,  53  have  taken  the  oath,  the  re- 
mainder absent  and  ordered  as  above. 
Middelborg,  99  men,  53  have  taken  the  oath,  the  re- 
mainder absent  and  ordered  as  above." 
At  the  very  last  of  October,  Colve  sent  Cornells 
van  Steenwyck  and  two  other  councillors.  Captain 
Carel  Epen  Steyn  and  Lieutenant  Carel  Quirtynsen, 
along  the  Sound  in  the  snow  Zeehont  (the  shark), 
to   receive   the  allegiance   of  the    Eastern  Towns. 
Huntington  and  Brookhaven  agreed  to  sign  a  pledge 
of  obedience  to  the  Dutch  Governor,  but  refused 
any  oath  which  might  bind  them  to  arm  against  the 
King  of  England.     Southold  was  already  in  arms 
against  the  Dutch,  and  Southamptom  would  make 
no  compromise.     They  at  once  sent  messengers  to 
ask  Connecticut  to  receive  them,  and  to  aid  them 
against  the  re-asserted  rule  of  New  Orange.     The 


312  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

General  Court  referred  their  application  to  a  com- 
mittee authorised  to  receive  them.  The  three  towns 
were  organised  into  a  district  with  the  needed  civil 
and  military  officers.  A  small  body  of  soldiers ' 
under  Fitz-John  Winthrop^  was  sent  to  Southold, 
and  more  troops  under  Major  Treat  came  to  meet 
the  Dutch  force  who  were  reported  to  have  threat- 
ened the  rebellious  towns  with  fire  and  sword. 

On  his  arrival  at  Southold,  Steenwyck  called 
together  the  freeholders  to  announce  the  purpose  of 
his  coming.  The  Commissioners  from  Connecticut 
answered  him  that  the  "  Inhabitants  of  Southold 
were  subjects  of  his  Majesty  of  England  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  any  orders  or  commission  of  the 
Dutch."  They  then  addressed  the  people :  "  Who- 
ever  among  you   will   not  remain    faithful   to   his 

'  The  Journal  of  Evertsen,  commander  of  the  Zeehont,  says  there 
were  "  a  troop  of  26  or  28  men  on  horseback  and  a  company  of  about 
5o  Footmen  in  arms." 

^  The  commission  to  Winthrop  and  his  associate,  M  r.  Wyllys,  runs 
as  follows : 

"  Whereas  by  divers  Reports  and  Informations  wee  are  given  to 
Vnderstand  that  there  are  some  Forces  Expected  speedily  from  New 
York  at  the  eastern  end  of  Long  Island  to  force  and  Constrayne  the 
People  there  to  take  the  Oath  of  Obedience  to  the  States  General 
and  the  Prince  of  Orange,  wee  have  thought  it  Expedient  to  desire 
and  impower  you  Sam'  Wyllys  Esquire  and  Capt"  John  Winthrop, 
or  Either  of  you,  to  take  such  necessary  attendance  as  you  judge 
meet,  and  forthwith  to  go  over  to  the  said  Island,  or  to  Shelter 
Island  and  treat  with  such  forces  as  you  shall  there  meet  and  doe  your 
endeavour  to  divert  them  from  using  any  hostility  against  the  said 
People  and  from  Imposing  uppon  them,  letting  them  know  if  they 
doe  proceed  notwithstanding  it  will  provoke  us  to  a  due  Considera- 
tion of  what  wee  are  nextly  obliged  to  doe. 

Dated  Hartford,  October  22nd,  1673." 


WINTHROPS  LETTER.  313 

Majesty  of  England,  your  lawful  lord  and  king,  let 
him  now  speak."  There  was  silence.  But  Steen- 
wyck  declared  them  the  subjects  of  their  High 
Mightinesse  and  his  Highness  of  Orange,  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  whom  he  now  offered.  He  continues 
his  report :  "  After  many  discussions  pro  and  con, 
we  took  up  our  commission  and  papers,  and  having 
entered  due  protest  left  the  village."  Some  South- 
ampton men  were  present,  and  one  John  Couper 
told  the  Councillor,  "  to  have  a  care  and  not  appear 
in  Southhampton  with  that  thing,"  meaning  the  flag 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  When  asked  if  "  he  said 
so  of  himself,  or  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,"  he 
replied  :  "  Rest  satisfied  that  I  warn  you  not  to 
come  within  range  of  shot  from  our  village."  Dis- 
cretion was  thereupon  deemed  the  better  part  of 
valour  and  the  Commission  returned  to  New  Orange, 
having  found  they  would  be  "  unable  to  effect  any- 
thing and  rather  do  harm  than  good." 

Governor  Winthrop  had  already  written  to  Massa- 
chusetts in  behalf  of  the  English  on  Long  Island, 
"  so  seperate  by  the  sea  fr5  ye  other  English  colo- 
nies who  had  no  sea-forces  to  releive  them."  He 
next  addresses,  October  21st. 

"  Ye  Comader  of  Ye  Dutch  at  Mahatoes : 
"  Sr — It  being  not  ye  mafler  of  Christian  or  Civill 
nations  to  disturbe  ye  poore  people  in  Cottages  or 
open  Villages  in  ye  tymes  of  Warre,  much  lesse  to 
impose  oathes  vpon  them  to  suffer  ym  to  goe  on 
w*  their  husbandry  and  other  country  affaires.  Wee 
cannot  but  wonder  to  heere  of  some  of  yours  having 
beene  lately  downe  toward  the  Easterne  ende  of 


314  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Long  Island  and  vrged  his  Ma''«  subjects  there  to 
take  an  oath  contrary  to  their  due  allegiance  to 
their  Soveraigne  and  to  vse  many  threatening  ex- 
pressions toward  them  in  case  of  refusall  of  such  an 
oath :  wee  thought  it  fitt  to  lett  you  now  yt  wee 
can  scarce  believe  such  commission  could  proceed 
fro  yrselfe  who  wee  have  heard  to  be  a  soldier," 
etc. 

The  General  Court  at  Hartford  had  shown,  upon 
the  whole,  a  praiseworthy  moderation  in  their  inter- 
ference. But  they  could  not  be  unmoved  by  the 
pathetic  persistence  with  which  eastern  Long  Island 
clung  to  Connecticut.  The  Colony  declared  war 
against  the  Dutch  at  New  Orange,  November  20, 
1673,  and  made  ready  for  an  active  campaign  in  the 
spring.  The  States-General  now  offered  to  restore 
Nieuw  Nederlandt,  and  in  the  Treaty  of  Westmin- 
ster, February  19,  1674,  England  received  its  whole 
territory  in  exchange  for  Surinam.  The  news  of  the 
Treaty  reached  America  and  was  proclaimed  from 
the  Stadt  Huys  in  New  Orange,  July  nth.  The  res- 
toration to  the  English  was  quietly  accomplished, 
and  New  Orange  was  once  again  New  York,  October 
31,  1674. 

The  former  government  was  resumed  with  but 
slight  changes.  The  Eastern  Towns,  however,  were 
no  more  inclined  to  submit  to  the  Duke's  Laws  than 
to  the  legislation  of  Holland.  They  still  tried  by 
negotiation  at  Hartford,  and  by  petitions  to  the 
King,  to  attach  themselves  to  Connecticut.  James 
had  already  obtained  a  new  patent  from  his  brother, 
and  instead  of  reinstating  the  old  officers,  appointed 


GOVERNOR  ANDROS.  315 

Major  Edmond  Andros '  governor  of  all  his  posses- 
sions in  America  with  vice-regal  powers.  Andros 
arriving  in  New  York,  October  31st,  at  once  sent  a 
special  messenger  to  Sylvester  Salisbury,  afterward. 
High  Sheriff  of  Yorkshire,  to  demand  the  allegiance 
of  the  Eastern  Towns.  They  replied  by  a  memorial " 
setting  forth  their  debt  to  Connecticut  by  whose 
help  they  had  repelled  the  invasion  of  the  Dutch. 
At  the  Town  Meeting  of  November  14th,  they  declared 
themselves  still  under  the  government  of  Connecti- 
cut, that  they  "  would  use  all  lawful  means  so  to 
continue,"  and  that  they  would  not  recede  from  her 
jurisdiction  without  her  consent.  Andros  at  once 
issued  peremptory  orders  that  the  former  constable 
and  overseers  be  restored  to  ofifice  "  under  penalty 
of  being  declared  rebels."  At  the  same  time  he 
wrote  Winthrop  to  disabuse  the  officers  he  had  ap- 
pointed of  the  "  notion  that  they  could  exercise  any 
power  in  New  York."  Winthrop  replied,  hoping 
an  arrangement  could  be  made  pleasing  to  "the 
Plantations  at  the  East."  He  said  :  "  Those 
people  eminently  manifested  their  loyalty  to  his 
Ma''*  with  the  hazard  of  their  lives,  wives  and 
children  and  all  they  had,  being  very  neare  a 
total  ruine.  Vpon  that  account  and  that  they 
might  be  vnder  the  shelter  of  his  Ma ""  goodness, 
they  petitioned  his  Ma''='s  Court  of  this  his  colonie 

'  Major  Andros  was  of  a  Guernsey  family  of  tried  loyalty.  In  his 
youth,  he  had  been  gentleman-in-waiting  to  the  ill-starred  Elizabeth 
of  Bohemia. 

'  The  memorial  was  drawn  up  by  John  Multord,  John  Howell,  and 
John  Youngs. 


3l6  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

of  Connecticut  for  their  help  therein,  as  well  as  for 
assistance  against  the  ever  threatening  fire  and  sword 
and  plunder." 

Andros  made  a  royal  progress  to  the  East,  and 
the  towns  were  forced  into  a  reluctant  submission.' 
But  this  he  rewarded  by  suspending  the  Court  of 
Sessions  in  the  East  Riding,  while  Brookhaven  and 
Huntington  were  ordered  to  transact  their  aflairs  for 
the  term  at  Jamaica.' 

So  matters  went  on  through  the  mal-administra- 
tion  of  Andros.  Long  Island  was  the  centre  of  the 
disaffection  toward  him.  In  the  very  last  month 
of  his  sojourn,  he  summoned  to  New  York  and  im- 
prisoned without  trial  five  freemen  of  Huntington  ° 
for  having  attended  a  meeting  to  consider  grievances 
and  to  discuss  means  of  redress.  Andros  left  the 
country  in  May,  1681.  In  June  was  a  special  Court 
of  Assize  where  the  Grand  Jury  pronounced  the  lack 
of  a  General  Assembly  to  be  an  "  insupportable 
grievance."  Captain  John  Youngs,  the  High 
Sheriff,  was  instructed  to  draft  a  petition  to  the 
Duke,  in  which  all  parties  and  classes  joined.     James 

'  The  Duke  writes  to  Andros  from  St.  James,  April  6,  1675,  that 
he  is  "  well  satisfied  with  his  proceedings  and  more  especially  with 
his  conduct  in  reducing  to  obedience  those  three  factious  towns  at  ye 
East  end  of  Long  Island." 

"^  Disaffection  was  not  confined  to  the  Eastern  Towns.  In  New- 
town, the  Clerk,  John  Burroughs,  had  reflected  upon  the  authority  of 
the  Court  of  Assize.  He  was  arrested,  brought  to  New  York  and 
tied  to  the  whipping-post  for  an  hour,  bearing  a  placard  denouncing 
him  as  the  writer  of  seditious  papers.  He  was  then  disqualified  from 
in  future  holding  any  public  trust. 

3  Epenetus  Piatt,  Isaac  Piatt,  Samuel  Titus,  Thomas  Wicks,  Jonas 
Wood. 


DONGA  A' S  ADMINISTRATION.  317 

consulted  William  Penn,  and,  following  his  advice, 
the  new  Governor,  Thomas  Dongan,  later,  Earl  of 
Limerick,  was  directed  to  convoke  a  legislative  as- 
sembly of  the  freemen. 

Dongan,  called  by  Domine  Selyns,  "  a  person  of 
knowledge,  politeness  and  friendliness,"  was  un- 
questionably the  best  of  the  colonial  governors  of 
New  York.  That  he  was  a  Catholic  caused  him  to 
be  regarded  with  ignorant  suspicion,  and  excited 
some  unjust  aspersions,  but  through  good  and  evil 
report,  he  seems  to  have  pursued  the  even  tenor  of 
his  way,  a  tolerant  man,  seeking  to  advance  the  best 
interests  of  the  colony.  On  his  appointment  East- 
hampton  sent  an  address  written  by  Thomas  James, 
promising  their  allegiance  if  the  Governor  "  were  an 
instrument  under  God  to  relieve  them,"  and  to  re- 
store "  their  freedom  and  privileges,  otherwise  they 
should  appeal  to  their  most  gracious  Sovereign." 
The  Town  sent  Mr.  James  to  New  York  to  direct 
the  action  of  their  deputies.  They  were  pledged  to 
make  a  stand  in  the  Assembly  for  "  maintaining  our 
privileges  and  English  libei'ties,  and  especially 
against  any  writ  going  in  the  Duke's  name,  but  only 
in  his  Majesty's  whom  we  own  as  our  sovereign." 
They  also  assured  the  High  Sheriff  that  they  "  do 
not  send  their  men  in  obedience  to  his  warrant,  but 
because  they  would  not  neglect  any  opportunity  to 
assert  their  own  liberties." 

Dongan  did  not  reach  New  York  until  August, 
1683.  At  the  accustomed  meeting  of  the  Assizes, 
in  October,  he  presided,  his  first  ofificial  appearance. 
After  the  adjournment    of    the  Court,  the  Sheriff 


3l8  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

drew  up  an  address  to  the  Duke  of  York,  written  by 
John  Youngs,  thanking  him  for  sending  them  a 
Governor  "  of  whose  integrity,  justice,  equity  and 
prudence  we  have  already  had  a  very  sufficient  ex- 
perience at  our  last  General  Court  of  Assize." 

The  High  Sheriff  had  meanwhile,  pursuant  to  the 
permission  given  two  years  earlier,  issued  his 
warrants  to  call  together  the  freeholders  of  the 
several  towns  to  meet  him  in  a  General  Assembly. 
This  first  Colonial  Legislature  of  New  York  con- 
vened in  Fort  James,  October  17,  1683,  sixty  years 
after  the  purchase  of  the  Manhattans,  thirty  years 
after  the  people's  first  demand  for  representation. 
The  body,  consisting  of  the  Governor  and  his 
Council,  and  seventeen  delegates  chosen  by  the 
people,'  remained  in  session  until  November  3d. 
Matthias  Nicoll  of  the  East  Riding  was  chosen 
Speaker  of  the  House.  Some  of  the  Duke's  Laws 
were  repealed  ;  some  new  laws  made  by  "  The  Peo- 
ple met  in  General  Assembly."  Thus  did  they  be- 
come sharers  in  the  provincial  legislation,  a  right 
not  yet  recognised  by  the  Patent.  Fourteen  acts 
were  passed.  Every  act  was  read  three  times,  and 
then  received  the  consent  of  the  Governor  and  his 
Council.  Here  was  formulated  a  Charter  of 
Liberties  which  gave  New  York,  for  the  first  time, 
political  equality  with  Massachusetts  and  Virginia. 
It  rested  upon  the  fundamental  principle  that,  under 
the  Duke,  authority  should  be  vested  in  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council,  and  "  the  People  met  in  General 
Assembly."  It  emphasised  the  basal  truth  of  all 
'  Its  records  being  destroyed,  there  is  no  exact  list  of  its  members. 


THE   CHARTER   OF  LIBERTIES.  3I9 

political  freedom,  that  taxation  could  only  be  with 
the  consent  of  the  taxed.  It  ordered  that  every 
freeholder  within  the  Province,  and  freeman  in  any 
corporation,  should  have  his  free  choice  and  vote  in 
the  election  of  their  representatives,  without  "  any 
manner  of  constraint  or  imposition,  and  that  all 
elections  should  be  determined  by  the  majority  of 
voters.  In  the  words  of  the  Petition  of  Right  of 
1628,  it  ordained  that,  "  No  aid,  tax,  tallage,  assess- 
ment, custom,  loan,  benevolence  or  imposition 
whatsoever,  should  be  laid,  assessed,  imposed  or 
levied  on  any  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  within  this 
Province,  or  these  estates,  upon  any  manner  of 
colour  or  pretence,  but  by  the  Act  and  Consent  of 
the  Governour,  the  Council  and  the  Representatives 
of  the  People  in  General  Assembly  met  and  Assem- 
bled." 

This  "  Charter  of  Liberties  and  Privileges  granted 
by  his  Royal  Highness  to  the  Inhabitants  of  New 
York  and  its  Dependencies,  confirmed  by  Act  of 
Assembly,"  was  proclained  in  front  of  the  City 
Hall,'  October  31st,  to  the  people  summoned  "  by 
sound  of  the  trumpet  to  hear  the  same." 

The  General  Assembly  was  to  meet  at  least  once 
in  three  years.  A  court  was  to  be  held  in  every 
town  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  the  month  ;   the 

'  This  first  City  Hall,  built  of  stone  in  1642,  and  originally  used  as 
a  tavern,  stood  on  Waal  Straat  (a  road  along  the  river  shore  from  the 
Fort  to  the  Ferry,  on  the  present  line  of  Pearl  Street)  vchere  is  now 
the  northwest  corner  of  Pearl  Street  and  Coenties  Slip.  On  the 
organisation  of  the  municipal  government  in  1653,  it  was  ceded  to 
the  city  as  a  Stadt  Huys,  and  so  used  from  1655  to  1699  when  it  was 
sold  for  ;^i  10. 


320  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Court  of  Sessions,  quarterly  or  half-yearly  in  each 
county,'  and  a  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  with 
original  and  appellate  jurisdiction,  half-yearly.  The 
Governor  and  his  Council  ofificiated  as  a  Court  of 
Chancery,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Province,  from 
which  appeal  could  be  made  to  the  King  alone. 

Yorkshire  with  its  Ridings  was  annulled,  and  the 
Province  was  divided  into  twelve  shires " : 

"  Queen's  County  to  conteyne  the  severall  towns 
of  Newtown,  Jamaica,  Flushing,  Hempstead  and  Oys- 
ter Bay  with  the  severall  out-farms,  settlements  and 
plantacons  adjoining. 

"  King's  County  to  conteyne  the  severall  towns  of 
Boswyck,  Bedford,  Brucklyn,  fHatbush,  fHatlands, 
New  Utrecht  and  Gravesend,  with  the  severall  set- 
tlements and  plantacons  adjacent. 

"  Suffolk  County  to  conteyne  the  severall  towns 
of  Huntington,  Smithfield,  Brookhaven-,  Southamp- 
ton, Southold,  Easthampton  to  Montauk  Point, 
Shelter  Island,  the  Island  of  Wight,  Fisher's  Island 
and  Plumb  Island  with  the  severall  out-farms  and 
Plantacons  adjacent." 

The  relative  importance  of  Long  Island  was  then 
immeasurably  greater  than  now.  Even  at  the  close 
of  the  last  century,  the  Island  contained  one  third 
the  population  of  the  State. 

In  1684  the  order  for  the  renewal  of  patents  greatly 

'  For  King's  County  at  Gravesend,  after  1685  at  Flatbush  ;  for 
Queen's  County,  at  Jamaica  ;>  for  Suffolk  County,  alternately  at 
Southold  aud  at  Southampton. 

^  King's,  Queen's,  Suffolk,  Duke's,  Cornwall,  New  York,  Orange, 
Ulster,  Albany,  Dutchess,  Westchester  and  Richmond, 


REMOVAL   OF  PATENTS.  32I 

disturbed  the  people  of  Long  Island,  but  within  two 
years  all  the  towns  except  Huntington  took  out  the 
new  grants.  Those  of  Hempstead  and  of  Flushing 
were  particularly  favourable.  These  towns  had  given 
to  the  Governor  large  tracts  of  land.  Easthampton 
was  characteristically  obstinate.  Mulford  led  the 
loud  protestors  and  James  preached  seditious  ser- 
mons. They  were  summoned  to  New  York  and 
obliged  to  retract  their  utterances,  and  the  town 
finally  received  a  liberal  patent. 

From  1685  to  1691  no  Assembly  was  held.  In 
1688  the  judicious  Dongan  was  replaced  by  Colonel 
Francis  Nicholson,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  for 
Andros.  He  was  even  more  obnoxious  to  Long 
Island  than  had  been  the  Viceroy  himself.  James 
II.,  an  industrious  man  of  affairs,  selfish,  but  "  more 
a  bigot  than  a  tyrant,"  had  come  to  the  throne,  in- 
tending an  entire  change  of  the  colonial  policy.  He 
wished  to  substitute  direct  monarchial  rule  for  the 
existing  oligarchies.  All  the  colonies  within  the 
limits  of  James  I's  Patent  of  1620,  Pennsylvania 
excepted,  he  embraced  in  the  "  Dominion  of  New 
England  "  with  one  colonial  governor  of  his  own 
appointment.  This  union  pleased  only  the  New 
England  immigrants  in  the  Eastern  Towns  who 
wished  to  sell  their  oil  at  Boston.'  Western  Long 
Island  had  many  afifiliations  with  the  Dutch,  for 
Nieuw  Nederlandt   had   been   to  her   "  a  fostering 

'  Dongan  had  some  years  before  written  to  James,  that  "Con- 
necticut was  always  grasping,  tenacious  and  prosperous  at  her  neigh- 
bour's expense,  of  evil  influence  over  the  New  York  towns  of  Long 
Island  whose  refractory  people  had  rather  carry  their  oil  to  Boston 
and  their  whalebone  to  Perth  [Amboy]  than  to  their  own  capital." 


322  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

mother."  New  York  and  Massachusetts  had  been 
antagonistic  from  their  earHest  settlement ;  the  one 
had  from  the  very  first,  something  of  the  cosmo- 
politan character  which  has  since  distinguished  the 
city,  and  therewith  a  broad,  if  sometimes  superficial, 
way  of  dealing  with  the  problems  of  life  and  thought ; 
the  other,  holding  herself  as  "  wheat  thrice  win- 
nowed," was  at  least  sectional  and  narrow  in  her 
range  of  sympathies. 

The  storm  raised  by  Leisler's  assumption  of  the 
government  did  not  rage  as  fiercely  on  Long  Island 
as  in  the  city.  Cotton  Mather's  Declaration  of  April 
i8,  [689,  by  which  Boston  justified  the  revolt  of 
Massachusetts,  had  fired  the  Eastern  Towns.  Suf- 
folk and  Queen's  displaced  their  civil  officers  in  May, 
but  Queen's  County  in  many  ways  still  held  her  alle- 
giance to  her  sovereign,  and  met  the  fate  of  those 
loyal  to  a  fallen  power.' 

Deputies  were  sent  from  Southampton,  East- 
hampton,  and  Huntington,  to  demand  the  delivery 
of  the  Fort  "  to  such  persons  as  the  country  shall 
chuse."  New  York,  clinging  to  Dutch  traditions, 
was  devoted  to  the  Stadtholder,  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  who,  as  William  III.,  secured  for  England  a 
Protestant  rule.  The  people  were  suspicious  of  the 
ofificers  appointed  during  James's  reign,  even  though 
they  were  Protestants  and  worthy  men.     Nicholson 

'  "  Whereas  Several!  desaffected  persons  have  augmented,  strength- 
ened and  advanced  ye  Interest  of  King  James  as  much  as  in  them 
lyes,  contrary  to  their  Bounden  duty  and  allegiance  to  our  Sovereigne 
Lord,  King  William,  his  Sovereign  Tittle,  Crowne  and  Dignity,  there 
are  in  his  Ma'i^s  name  to  will  and  require  you  to  Secure  ye  Body  of 


LEISLERS   GOVERNMENT.  323 

and  his  Council  could  act  only  under  direct  orders 
from  the  King,  and  their  one  endeavour  was  to  pre- 
serve peace  until  such  orders  could  be  received. 
Meanwhile  the  people  were  impatient.  A  rumour 
was  current  that  Nicholson  meant  to  burn  the  town. 
There  was  no  acknowledged  government. 

The  elements  of  mob-rule  were  gathering  force. 
A  strong,  if  an  illegal,  hand  was  needed.  Just  then, 
May  31,  1689,  the  German,  Jacob  Leisler,  seized  the 
Fort  and  issued  a  Declaration  that  he  "  should  keep 
and  guard,  surely  and  faithfully,  the  said  Fort  in  be- 
half of  the  person  who  was  governor,  to  surrender 
to  the  Person  of  the  Protestant  Religion  that  shall 
be  nominated  or  sent  by  the  Power  aforesaid." 

Leisler  invited  the  several  towns  of  the  Province 
to  send  two  deputies  to  the  popular  assembly  at 
Fort  James,  June  26,  1689,  and  two  men  to  help 
guard  the  Fort.  Brooklyn,  Flatbush,  Flatlands,  and 
Gravesend  complied  with  the  latter  request.  Queens 
and  Suffolk  refused,  but  Queens  was  represented  in 
the  Assembly  by  Nathaniel  Piersoll.  Suffolk  once 
more  began  unavailing  negotiations  with  Connecti- 
cut, and  the  next  year  sent  no  delegates  to  the 
General  Assembly  summoned   by   Leisler.     Writs 

Collonel  Thomas  Dongan  with  a  Safeguard  within  his  own  house 
[Dongan  had  retired  to  a  farm  in  Hempstead],  and  to  appre- 
hend Colonell  Thomas  Willet,  Capn  Thomas  Hicks,  Daniel  White- 
head   and   Edward   Antill,    ye   said    Persons  to   convey   unto   me 

hither. 

"  Given  &c  this  15th  of  Feb.  ye  A°  1689, 

"  Jacob  Leisler. 

"To  ye  Civill  and  Military  Officers  &  Sherife  for  ye  Queen's 
County  upon  Long  Island." 


324  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

were  issued  for  this  meeting  February  20,  1690,  but 
the  people  were  "  very  slack  "  in  compliance. 

New  writs  were  sent  out  April  8th,  and  the 
Assembly  met  on  the  24th.  Nathaniel  Piersoll,  of 
Queens,  refused  to  serve.  In  October,  Milborne  was 
ordered  to  take  the  force  necessary  to  subdue 
"  with  all  violence  and  hostility  "  the  "  Rebellion  " 
which  existed  in  Queen's  County.  Soon  after,  the 
Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  about  to  sit  in  King's 
County,  was  suspended  until  Long  Island  "  could 
be  reduced  to  obedience."  Early  in  November,  the 
people  of  Hempstead,  Jamaica,  Flushing,  and 
Newtown  met,  and  through  Captain  John  Clapp, 
wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  explaining  their 
"  miserable  condition  by  the  severe  oppression  and 
tyrannical  usurpation  of  Jacob  Leisler  and  his  ac- 
complices." 

Perhaps  no  better  instance  of  Long  Island's  in- 
grained conservatism  could  be  given  than  their  fail- 
ure to  recognise  in  Leisler,  however  ill-judged  his 
course,  the  same  inherent  spirit  of  independence 
which  had  fired  their  own  freemen.  His  death,  now 
deemed  that  of  a  political  martyr,  passed  unnoticed 
by  them.  The  long-delayed  arrival  of  Governor 
Sloughter  confirmed  the  system  of  government ' 
'  At  his  first  Assembly,  April  9,   1691,  the  Long  Island  deputies 


were  : 


Nathaniel  Howell)  s„g^ll^(, 

Henry  Pierson        ) 

John  Bowne  )  „         ,    „ 

„    ,  „  „.        ,        >  Queen  s  County. 

Nath'l  Piersoll        )  ' 

John  Boland  )  „.     ,    „ 

Nicholas  Stilwell    [  ^mg  s  County. 

John  Clapp  of  Queen's  was  made  Clerk  of  the  Assembly.     The 


NICOLL'S  GOVERNMENT  REINSTATED.       325 

established  by  Nicoll,  and  which  was  maintained 
until  the  Revolution.  His  brief  administration  and 
that  of  his  successor,  Major  Ingoldsby,  left  no  ripple 
on  the  finally  quiescent  surface  of  Long  Island 
affairs.  Colonel  Fletcher,  arriving  in  1692,  was  to  give 
to  Matouwacks  a  new  name,  and  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, opening  as  an  era  of  peace  and  good  feeling, 
was  to  begin  a  career  of  active  development,  the 
course  of  which  may  be  briefly  traced. 

deputies  from  Queen's  being  Quakers,  scrupled  to  take  an  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  Daniel  Whitehead  and  John  Robinson  were  set  in 
their  stead. 


XIV. 

NASSAU   IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY. 

ONE    March   morning  in  the   spring  of    1693, 
Governor    Fletcher  rose  in   the    Executive 
Chamber  of  the  old  Dutch  Stadt  Huys,  not 
yet  condemned  and  replaced  by  the  new  City  Hall, 
and  thus  addressed  the  Council : 

"  Gentlemen,  there  is  one  small  request  to  you 
which  I  hope  will  meet  with  noe  opposition,  and 
that  is,  that  the  King's  name  may  live  forever  among 
you.  I  would  have  a  Bill  passe  for  the  calling  of 
Long  Island  the  Island  of  Nassau."  The  Bill  was 
read  three  times  before  receiving  the  consent  of 
the  Council,  a  delay  on  which  the  Governor  com- 
mented, saying :  "  It  met  with  some  opposition 
amongst  you,  but  I  believe  it  proceeded  merely 
from  ignorance,  for  the  calling  of  that  Island  by  a 
new  name  can  in  noe  ways  hurt  or  injure  any  former 
grants  of  land.  I  have  noe  design  in  proposing  it 
to  you  but  that  we  might  put  some  mark  of  respect 
upon  the  best  of  Kings."  As  this  legislation  has 
never  been  repealed,  Nassau  is  still  the  legal  name 
of  our  Island. 

326 


tN   THE  PHENCH  AND  INDIAN   WARS.       327 

In  the  long  series  of  French  and  Indian  wars,  cul- 
minating and  closing  in  this  period,  Long  Island 
men  played  a  distinguished  part.  Major  Woodhull 
and  Colonel  Richard  Hewlett  fought  side  by  side  at 
Frontenac  and  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham.  Very 
early  in  the  English  possession  of  the  province  of 
New  York,  Long  Island  was  called  upon  to  be  ready 
for  war,  offensive  or  defensive,  and  she  always  fur- 
nished her  full  quota  of  men  and  generous  supplies. 
Colonel  Nicoll  wrote  from  Fort  James,  June  19, 
1667,  to  the  Justices  of  the  Peace,  the  Constables, 
and  Overseers  of  the  town  of  Suffolk,  and  to  Oyster 
Bay  and  Hempstead,  as  follows : 
"  Gentlemen : 

"  I  have  not  given  you  the  trouble  of  alarums  to 
interrupt  your  private  Occasions,  but  the  Name 
of  Warrs  sounds  from  farr  in  other  Plantations  & 
therefore  it  becomes  necessary  in  his  Majesty's 
name  to  direct  and  require  that  for  the  common 
safety  in  this  time  of  danger,  your  Militia  be  put 
into  the  following  Wayes  of  defence  &  readiness  to 
comply  with  these  my  directions : 

"  1st.  That  one  third  of  the  Militia  which  are  now 
in  foot  Companies  doe  fitt  themselves  with  horses, 
saddles  &  such  armes  (either  Pistoles,  Carabines  or 
Musketts)  as  they  have,  which  third  part  are  to  be 
ready  at  an  houres  warning  to  answer  all  true 
Alarums  of  an  Enemy  &  my  orders  when  I  appoint 
them  a  Randevous. 

"  2dly.  That  the  two  parts  of  the  Militia  remaine 
in  and  about  their  Plantations  for  the  security  of 
their  families  and  Estates  as  much  as  may  bee. 


328  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  3rdly.  That  if  any  Towne  bee  in  more  Danger 
than  another,  the  neighbouring  Townes  shall  upon 
notice  send  Reliefe  to  them,"  etc. 

These  rumours  of  wars  proved  baseless,  but  during 
the  English  Revolution  there  was  much  alarm  over 
the  possibility  of  a  French  invasion.  In  May,  1689, 
the  Freeholders  of  Suffolk  urge  measures  "  to  secure 
our  English  nation's  libertys  and  Propertyes  from 
Popery  &  Slavery  and  from  the  Intended  invasion 
of  a  foreign  enemy,"  being  assured  the  French 
"  design  more  than  Turkish  crueltys." 

The  French  were  not  ignorant  of  the  important 
strategetic  position  of  Long  Island,  and  of  its  richness 
as  a  base  of  supplies.  The  Memoir  of  M.  d'  Iberville 
on  Boston  and  its  Dependencies,  written  in  1701, 
thus  speaks  of  it :  "  The  entrance  into  the  River  at 
New  York  is  difficult  for  two  leagues,  as  far  as  '  Isle 
des  Lapins.'  Long  Island  can  muster  1500  men  at 
least,  so  it  need  not  be  expected  to  make  descent 
with  ships  in  any  of  those  places  without  a  consider- 
able force.  .  .  .  Were  the  grain  of  Long  Island ' 
burnt,  the  settlers  would  be  obliged  to  retire  into 
Pennsylvania  in  order  to  subsist.  The  abandonment 
of  those  places  would  greatly  weaken  New  York  and 
deprive  it  of  the  power  of  undertaking  anything."' 

During  Queen  Anne's  war.  Lord  Cornbury  writes 
to  the  Lords  of  Trade "  of  an  expected  invasion  and 

'  The  Memoir  ai  M.  La  Motte  Cadillac,  on  Acadia,  New  England, 
and  Virginia,  written  in  1692,  says  :  "  Long  Island  produces  a  pro- 
digious quantity  of  wheat  which  makes  as  good  bread  as  the  finest 
grain  in  France.'' 

^  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  ix. ,  pp.  729,  732. 

°  Under  date,  November  6,  1704,  see  New  York  Colonial  Docu- 
ments, vol.  iv.,  p.  1120. 


A  JAMAICA  JUBILEE.  329 

the  rumoured  appearance  of  the  French  men-of-war 
within  Sandy  Hook,  but  adds:  "  Their  fears  are  over 
for  the  men  of  war  dwindled  to  one  French  privateer 
of  fourteen  gunns.  I  cannot  say  that  the  militia  of 
this  City  did  their  duty,  for  very  many  ran  away  to 
the  woods,  but  the  Militia  of  Long  Island  deserve 
to  be  commended.  Col :  Willet  who  commands  the 
Militia  of  Queen's  Co :  in  ten  hours'  time  brought 
1000  men  within  an  hour's  march  of  New  York. 
King's  Co :  was  likewise  in  good  readiness  but  there 
being  no  occasion  for  them  they  were  sent  home." 

In  the  roster  of  the  Provincial  Militia  there  were 
then  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty-two 
names,  nearly  one  half  of  which,  one  thousand  four 
hundred  and  ninety-five,  were  from  Long  Island. 
Suffolk  County  furnished  six  hundred  and  fourteen 
men ;  Queens,  six  hundred  and  one ;  and  Kings 
County,  two  hundred  and  eighty.'  It  is  curious  to 
compare  the  distribution  of  population  on  Nassau 
then,  with  the  present  time. 

The  New  York  Weekly  Post-Boy  oi  July  29,  1745, 
gives  the  following  account  of  a  Long  Island  cele- 
bration : 

"  Jamaica  on  L.  I.  July  20. 

"  The  Good  News  of  the  Surrender  of  Cape 
Breton  coming  to  us  in  the  Middle  of  our  Harvest 
obliged  us  to  defer  the  Time  of  Publick  rejoicing 
until  yesterday :  when  the  Magistrates,  Military  Offi- 
cers and  many  other  Gentlemen  &c.  of  this  County 
met  at  this  Place  and  Feasted  together,  and  at  night 
gave  a  Tub  of  Punch  and  a  fine  Bonfire,  drank  the 
publick  Healths  and  especially  of  the  Valiant  com- 
'  For  names,  see  ibid.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  808. 


330  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

mander  immediately  concern'd  in  this  great  Action, 
and  joined  in  Chorus  to  the  following  Song, 

Let  all  true  subjects  now  rejoice 

The  seventeenth  day  of  June 
On  Monday  morning  in  a  trice 

We  sang  the  French  a  tune. 

A  glorious  Peace  we  shall  have  soon 
For  we  have  conquer'd  Cape  Breton 
With  a  fa— la— la  ! 

Brave  Warren  and  Pepperell 

Stout  Wolcott  and  the  rest 
Of  British  Heroes  with  Good  Will 

Enter'd  the  Hornet's  Nest. 

A  glorious  Peace  &c. 

A  Health  let 's  to  King  George  advance 

That  he  may  long  remain 
To  curb  the  Arrogance  of  France 

And  Haughtiness  of  Spain. 

A  glorious  Peace  &c." 

The  letters  of  the  Earl  of  Bellamont  to  the  Lords 
of  Trade  are  characterised  by  a  very  piquant  frank- 
ness and  contain  many  an  unconscious  confession  of 
the  secret  springs  of  his  administration.  In  April, 
1699,  he  writes:  "  Nicholls '  hath  so  poyson'd  the 
people  of  Queen's  Co :  who  are  all  English  that  f 
part  of  them  are  said  to  be  downright  Jacobites, 
and  to  avoid  taking  the  Oathes  to  the  King  which  I 
lately  enjoyned  all  the  Males  in  the  Province  to  do, 

'  "Mr.  Nicholls,  late  of  the  Council,''  was  Matthias  Nicoll,  Sec- 
retary and  nephew  of  Colonel  Richard  Nicoll. 


EVASION  Of   REVENUE  LAWS.  33 1 

from  16  years  old  and  upwards,  a  great  many  men  in 
that  Co :  pretend  themselves  Quakers  to  avoid 
taking  the  Oathes.  ...  In  Suffolk  Co :  on 
Nassaw  Island,  they  are  all  English  too,  but  quite 
a  different  temper  and  principle  from  those  I  have 
been  speaking  of,  being  10  Williamites  for  i  Jacob- 
ites." This  was  not  the  last  time  that  County  held 
to  her  faith  through  good  and  evil  report,  and  arrayed 
her  best  strength  on  the  losing  side. 

A  little  later  Bellamont  writes :  "  I  forgot  to  ac- 
quaint your  Lordships  with  a  petition  of  the  Inhabi- 
tants of  Suffolk,  another  of  Queen's  Co :  in  this 
Province,  for  the  settling  of  a  Dissenting  Ministry 
among  them.  I  gave  no  Countenance  to  them  nor 
will  not  recommend  them  now.  I  think  the  best 
way  is  to  forget  them." 

The  Long  Islanders  were  inborn  free-traders  and 
Lord  Bellamont  was  active  in  efforts  to  prevent 
their  evasion  of  the  revenue  laws.  He  writes  to  the 
Board  of  Trade,  May  13,  1699  of  his  difficulties 
therein : 

"  I  find  great  want  of  good  officers  of  Justice  in 
the  Improvement  of  the  Revenue  &  to  convince 
your  Lordship  of  it,  I  must  acquaint  you  that  there 
are  on  Nassaw  Island  four  harbours '  besides  a  great 
many  creeks  where  the  merchants  run  in  great 
quantities  of  goods,  computed  to  be  \  as  much  as 
are  fairly  imported  at  New  York.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Graham  is  of  opinion   that  the    Excise  of  Nassaw 

'  Southold,  Setauket,  Oyster  Bay,  and  Musquito  Cove.  Later 
there  were  Custom  Houses  established  at  Southold,  Oyster  Bay,  and 
at  Carnarsie  on  Jamaica  Bay. 


332  EAULY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Island  if  fairly  collected  would  amount  to  ^^  12,000 
per  Ann  :  which  is  12  times  as  much  as  I  doubt  it 
will  be  lett  for  this  year,  wherein  I  have  some  rea- 
son to  apprehend  myself  ill-used,  it  being  a  resolved 
thing  to  keep  down  the  Revenue  as  low  as  may  be, 
for  my  discredit.  I  offered  one  of  the  Lieutenants 
of  the  County  i^ioo  a  year  with  a  Couple  of  Horses 
for  him  and  a  man  to  attend  him,  and  I  intended 
him  to  be  riding  Surveyor  of  Nassaw,  not  only  to 
lett  and  collect  Excise  of  the  whole  Island,  but  also 
to  inspect  and  watch  the  harbours  and  creeks  that 
no  goods  or  merchandises  should  be  run  in,  and  he 
to  have  ^  of  all  he  should  seize,  but  though  he  is  a 
brisk  man  and  ready  to  starve  for  his  want  of  pay 
and  subsistence,  told  me  in  plain  terms  it  was  too 
hazzardous  an  undertaking  for  him  and  refused  to 
meddle."  ' 

These  were  the  days  when  piracy  was  to  a  certain 
extent  legalised,  and  a  commission  for  privateering 
was  a  sovereign's  frequent  gift.  Of  this  careless 
generosity,  the  government  began  too  late  to  repent, 
and  Lord  Bellamont  found  new  complications  here. 
After  writing  of  the  pirates  that  "  the  East  End  of 
the  Island  is  their  rendezvous  and  sanctuary,"  he 
again  says :  "  I  formerly  acquainted  your  Lordships 
that  Nassaw  Island,  alias  Long  Island,  was  become 
a  great  receptacle  for  pirates.  I  take  the  Island  and 
especially  the  East  end  of  it,  to  excede  Rhode 
Island."     The  people  there  have  been  manny  of  them 

'  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  iv.,  p.  516. 
"  He  had  already  written  of  Rhode  Island  :   "  I  know  the  Govern- 
ment &  People  to  be  the  most  piratical  in  the  King's  Dominion." 


POLITICAL  QUIET  ON  NASSAU.  333 

Pirates  themselves  and  are  sure  to  be  well-affected  to 
the  Trade." ' 

But  as  the  eighteenth  century  advances,  no  such 
lurid  light  falls  upon  Long  Island.  As  the  colonial 
government  crystallised  into  more  definite  and  en- 
during forms,  the  spirit  of  faction  and  lawlessness 
co-existent  with  independence  was  always  rife  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  From  the  earliest  times 
there  was  present  the  material  for  riots  in  this  cos- 
mopolitan seaport,  whose  wharfs  were  thronged  with 
sailors  of  every  nation,  and  desperate  men  from  every 
grade  of  society  seeking  to  mend  their  fortunes  in 
the  New  World.  Not  so,  however,  upon  the  neigh- 
bouring Island  of  Nassau  whose  quiet  was  little 
broken  by  the  excitements  of  the  capital.  Neither 
the  trial  and  acquittal  of  Zenger,  the  frenzy  of  the 
Negro  Plot,  nor  the  political  manoeuvrings  of  Clinton, 
of  Livingston,  and  of  William  Smith,  disturbed  her. 
The  agitation  excited  by  the  Stamp  Act,  and  the 
succeeding  legislation  which  thrilled  Massachusetts 
and  stirred  her  to  action,  did  not  easily  penetrate  to 
the  secluded  farmsteads  or  the  busy  harbours  of 
Nassau.  Until  the  Revolution  was  fairly  begun  and 
the  unhappy  Island  had  entered  upon  her  baptism  of 
fire,  she  knew  little  of  political  strife  or  of  discontent 
with  existing  forms  of  government.  The  eighteenth 
century  was  a  formative  period.  Education  and 
social  refinements  were  taking  their  due  place,  and 
there  had  begun  a  time  of  marked  agricultural  and 
commercial  development.  That  Long  Island  was 
regarded  as  the  granary  of  the  English  provinces  has 
'  Written  October  29,  1699.     Ibid.,  p.  591. 


334  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

been  already  shown.  Mention  has  been  made  of  the 
careful  fruit-culture  introduced  by  the  first  Huguenot 
settlers,  and  of  the  early  establishment  of  nurseries. 
Then  also,  the  great  whaling  interests  established  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  before  the  English  Con- 
quest, were  extended  and  became  an  abundant 
source  of  wealth. 

The  colonial  newspapers  published  in  New  York 
picture  the  business,  the  manners,  and  the  amuse- 
ments of  the  age,  and  with  increased  prosperity 
came  relaxations  and  diversions  borrowed  from  the 
Old  Country.  The  New  York  Gazette  of  June  4, 
1750,  tells  us  that  "  A  great  Horse-Race  was  run  off 
Hampstead  Plains  for  a  considerable  wager  which 
engaged  the  attention  of  so  many  in  the  City  that 
upward  of  seventy  chairs  and  chaises  were  carried 
over  the  ferry  from  hence,  and  a  far  greater  number 
of  horses,  so  that  it  was  thought  that  the  number  of 
Horses  on  the  Plains  at  the  Races  far  exceeded  a 
thousand."  On  the  Flatland  Plains  was  a  famous 
racecourse  called  Ascot  Heath,  much  frequented 
during  the  Revolution  by  the  British  ofificers.  The 
announcement  of  a  horse-race,  or  a  bull-baiting,  was 
usually  headed,  "  Pro  Bono  Publico."  That  the 
latter  was  not  an  unusual  amusement  is  shown  by 
many  public  notices.  John  Cornell  in  the  NewYork 
Mercury,  in  August,  1774,  announces  that  there  will 
be  "  A  Bull  Baited  on  Town  Hill  "  (Brooklyn 
Heights,  Columbia  Street  near  Cranberry  Street) 
"  at  3  o'clock  every  Thursday  during  the  season." 

Long  Island  had  no  Post  Office  during  the  colonial 
period.    There  was  none  upon  the  Island  until  1793, 


LIBERTY  OF  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  335 

New  York  serving  the  people  of  Kings  and  Queens, 
while  those  of  Suffolk  County  were  dependent  on 
New  London.  A  post-route  called  the  Circuit,  was 
established  in  1764,  and  mail  was  carried  fortnightly 
by  a  horseman  along  the  North  Shore,  returning  by 
the  South  Side.  In  1782,  "A  New  Flying  Machine 
on  steel  springs  will  leave  Brooklyn  for  Jamaica  on 
Thursday,  Sunday  and  Tuesday,  at  8'0'clock,  return- 
ing the  same  evening.  Proper  care  taken  of  all 
letters  and  newspapers." 

When  free  from  outside  influences  the  long  jeal- 
ousies between  the  East  and  the  West  were  softened 
by  time,  and  by  the  acceptance  and  support  of  a 
common  government,  the  Indians  had  become  fewer 
in  number  and  gradually  more  civilised.  As  fisher- 
men and  berry-pickers,  as  basket-makers  and  house- 
hold servants,  they  were  a  small,  a  constantly 
diminishing,  a  peaceful,  and  always  a  pathetic  ele- 
ment in  the  community. 

Favoured  in  natural  advantages,  it  was  still  the 
sterling  worth  of  her  people  which  determined  the 
character  of  Long  Island.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact 
that  among  her  first  planters  was  not  a  single  Re- 
demptioner,  nor  one  of  the  criminal  class  which 
swelled  the  population  of  other  colonies.  Long 
Island  was  settled  by  the  best  yeomanry  of  Eng- 
land, among  whom  were  found  professional  men 
and  not  a  few  of  gentle  blood  and  fair  estate. 

There  were  other  conditions  in  a  high  degree  con- 
ducive to  the  well-being  of  Long  Island.  It  was 
spared  the  blight  of  theological  controversy.  In 
the  years  when  the  Connecticut  Valley  was  writhing 


336  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

under  the  fiery  eloquence  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  and 
Whitfield  preached  on  Boston  Common  to  fifteen 
thousand  weeping  hearers,  the  Dutch  Domines  of 
Nassau  went  calmly  through  their  accustomed 
ritual ;  the  once  persecuted  Friends,  in  their  plain 
houses,  quietly  awaited  the  movement  of  the  Spirit ; 
the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England  was  heard  at 
Saint  George's  and  at  Caroline  Church  ;  Indepen- 
dent ministers  held  their  meetings  unmolested,  and 
at  Southampton  was  refuge  for  Elisha  Paine,  re- 
volting from  the  Saybrook  Platform,^ — the  thrice- 
imprisoned,  fearless  itinerant  preacher  of  religious 
freedom. 

This  mild  tolerance,  which  except  for  brief  perse- 
cution of  the  Quakers,  had  always  characterized 
Long  Island,  was  a  direct  heritage  from  Holland, 
and  not  the  least  of  the  good  New  York  owes  to 
her  earliest  settlers.  Their  influence  is  more  vital 
and  more  seminal  than  is  often  recognised,  and  gives 
the  solid  substratum  of  conservatism  which  still 
characterises  the  people  of  Nassau,  even  those  in 
whose  veins  flows  not  a  drop  of  Dutch  blood. 

Long  Island,  increasing  rapidly  in  population  and 
in  wealth,  her  thrifty  planters  soon  found  themselves 
more  "  straitened  "  than  had  been  the  Linne  men. 
The  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  the  swarm- 
ing time,  and  from  the  mother-hive  were  sent  out  in 
groups,  or  in  single  families,  those  who  in  subse- 
quent migration  have  carried  the  names  and  blood 
of  Long  Island  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Rio  Grande 
and  the  Yukon.  It  is  doubtful  whether  there  has 
been  in  America  any  greater  centre  of  dispersion, 


SWARMING  FROM  THE  MOTHER-HIVE.      337 

certainly  none  to  which  can  be  more  directly  traced 
the  best  elements  of  our  American  character. 

The  immediate  points  of  emigration  were  to  the 
eastern  shore  of  New  Jersey,  to  Westchester,  and  to 
Dutchess  County,  where  in  the  Philipse  Patent,  The 
Nine  Partners,  The  Oblong,  and  on  the  river  banks, 
many  Long  Island  families  were  established.  Long 
Island  heirlooms  are  in  the  old  houses,  and  Long 
Island  virtues  are  fragrant  in  the  memory  of  their 
descendants.  It  is  pleasant  to  dwell  upon  what 
must  have  been  then  the  social  and  domestic  life  of 
Long  Island,  and  especially  of  Queens  County,  its 
most  typical  region,  and  the  one  most  thoroughly 
English  in  the  details  of  its  household  economy.  It 
resembled  the  old  Virginia  life  more  nearly  than  any 
other  of  the  American  colonies,  not  the  less  that  the 
ownership  of  negro  slaves  was  almost  universal 
among  the  well-to-do.  The  presence  of  these  he- 
reditary' household  servants  gave  a  picturesque 
note  to  rural  life  and  a  piquancy  to  surviving  tradi- 
tions, while  the  institution  of  slavery  existed  there 
in  an  almost  ideal  form. 

Here  the  prayer  of  Agur  was  fulfilled  in  condi- 
tions that  removed  from  life  its  most  sordid  cares 
and  its  most  degenerating  influences.  Its  first 
planters  acted  upon  Captain  John  Smith's  concep- 
tion of  a  colony  when  he  asked — "  Who  can  desire 

'  There  are  few  Long  Island  wills  which  do  not  include  the  slaves 
in  the  disposition  of  personal  property,  and  often  with  tender  pro- 
vision for  their  comfort,  as  when  the  will  of  V.  H.  P.  provides  that 
"his  negro  woman  Pegg  be  given  a  comfortable  support  from  his 
residuary  estate,  and  that  she  be  at  Liberty  to  live  with  such  of  his 
Children  for  such  times  as  she  shall  see  fitt," 

22 


338  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

more  content  that  hath  but  small  means,  or  but  his 
merits  to  advance  his  future,  than  to  tread  and  plant 
the  ground  he  hath  purchased  by  the  hazard  of  his 
life  ?  If  he  hath  but  a  taste  of  virtue  and  mag- 
nanimity what  to  such  a  mind  can  be  more  pleasant 
than  planting  and  building  a  foundation  for  his  pos- 
teritie,  got  from  the  rude  earth  by  God's  blessing 
without  prejudice  to  any  ?  " 

Many  ancestral  estates  and  modest  freeholds  have 
come  down  in  direct  descent  from  the  first  planters. 
Living  close  to  the  soil,  there  was  a  hearty  content, 
a  serene  philosophy,  which  are  the  best  outcome  of 
country  life.  Intermarriage  between  the  leading 
families  was  so  usual  and  approved  a  custom,  that 
when  some  adventurous  youth  sought  a  bride  out- 
side the  circle  of  his  cousins,  the  old  folk  gravely 
shook  their  heads  and  lamented  that  "  he  had  mar- 
ried a  stranger."  Thus  were  strengthened  the  ties 
of  home  and  race.  The  Hempstead  Resolutions 
sounded  a  characteristic  note  in  their  protest  against 
"  introducing  innovations."     But  the  end  was  near. 


XV. 

PROTESTS     AGAINST      REBELLION  —  THE      OPENING 
WAR. 

IN  the  war  which  achieved  the  American  Inde- 
pendence, no  one  of  the  English  colonies 
endured  as  much  as  Long  Island.  It  was  op- 
pressed both  by  friend  and  foe  ;  it  was  at  the  mercy 
of  whichever  party  enjoyed  a  temporary  success. 
Suffering  equally  from  the  raids  of  provincial  militia 
and  Committees  of  Safety,  or  of  Connecticut  whale- 
boat  men,  and  from  the  lawlesss  depredations  of  the 
British  army,  loyal  and  whig  alike  were  plundered. 
On  every  side  peculiarly  exposed  to  attack.  Long 
Island  was  literally  between  the  upper  and  nether 
millstones.' 

Queens  County,  settled  by  a  class  of  English  im- 
migrants little  tinctured  by  Puritanism — the  seced- 
ers  of  Wethersfield  and  Stamford,  and  other  men  of 
education  and    of   substance,    usually    Churchmen, 

'  In  September,  1776,  the  people  of  Easthampton,  in  an  appeal  to 
Governor  Trumbull  for  his  protection,  say  that  in  their  "  present 
distressed  and  perplexed  situation,  they  hope  they  may  not  be  as  a 
torch  on  fire  at  both  ends.'' 

339 


340  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

who  for  more  than  a  century  had  wisely  adminis- 
tered her  affairs, — Queens  County  was  almost  with- 
out exception  loyal  to  her  King.  The  Five  Dutch 
Towns  also  held  a  strongly  conservative  population, 
who  shrank  from  any  rash  upheaval  of  the  existing 
order,  while  in  both  Kings  and  Queens  the  worthy 
and  not  inconsiderable  Quaker  element  was  on 
principle  opposed  to  war,  as  in  itself  a  greater  evil 
than  any  it  might  seek  to  right.  Suffolk  County, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  families,  attached  itself 
to  the  Whig  party.  The  Eastern  Towns  from  their 
earliest  settlement  were  most  unwillingly  associated 
with  the  west  of  the  Island.  From  the  first  coming 
of  the  Linne  men  to  Nieuw  Nederlandt,  all  their 
sympathies  had  been  with  New  England,  and  their 
entreaties  to  be  permanently  incorporated  with  Con- 
necticut had  been  earnest  and  persistent. 

Thus,  even  while  the  orange,  blue,  and  white 
floated  over  'T  Lange  Eylandt,  the  Netherlandic 
motto,  "  Eendragt  maakt  Magt,"  was  not  a  controll- 
ing principle.  The  change  of  flags  had  brought  little 
more  union  of  feeling.  There  had  been  from  the 
first,  two  distinct  classes,  which  have  mingled  little 
with  one  another.  These  divergent  currents  were 
now  to  be  more  widely  separated.  It  was  not  a 
racial  but,  to  a  great  degree,  a  religious  and  social 
distinction  which  separated  the  Loyalists  from  the 
Whigs  on  Long  Island.'     With  those  whose  devo- 

'  Any  student  of  her  history  can  see  the  injustice  of  the  following 
summary  account  of  her  status  :  "  On  Long  Island,  the  people  of 
Kings  and  Queens,  of  Dutch  descent  were  lories  almost  to  a  man, 
while  the  English  population  of  Suffolk  were  solidly  in  favour  of  In- 
dependence.    And  this  instance  of  Long  Island  was  typical.     From 


LOYALTY  AND  PATRIOTISM.  341 

tion  to  either  side  was  pre-determined  by  ancestry 
and  by  environment,  there  was  also  a  large  class  of 
would-be  neutral  men,  and  not  a  few  Vicars  of  Bray, 
carefully  balancing  the  measures  of  expediency  which 
were  to  win  their  cheap  adherence.  So  it  was,  that 
while  every  Loyalist  was  true  to  the  bitter  end,  giv- 
ing his  all  to  the  inexorable  sense  of  duty  which 
made  him  such,  there  were  unquestionably  many 
selfish  men  among  those  who  arrogated  to  them- 
selves alone  the  name  of  "  Patriots." 

Patriotism  was  the  watchword  of  the  Whig  party, 
but  patriotism  and  loyalty  are  not  necessarily  con- 
vertible terms.  Carlyle  has  well  said,  "  The  Truth  is 
that  for  which  men  will  sacrifice  most."  The  Loy- 
alists of  the  Revolution  sacrificed  all.  Contumely, 
confiscation,  and  exile  were  their  portion.  The  per- 
spective of  distance  is  needed  for  any  just  and  un- 
impassioned  historical  estimate.  We  are  scarcely 
more  than  a  century  removed  from  those  days  which 
"  tried  men's  souls."  We  have  remembered  much 
on  which  should  have  fallen  the  soft  pall  of  merciful 
Time.  But  we  have  also  forgotten,  or  have  never 
duly  weighed,  those  extenuating  circumstances  in 
whose  light  alone  can  be  read  the  story  of  the 
American  Revolution  and  of  those  who  conscien- 
tiously opposed  its  course. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Independence  was 

one  end  of  the  United  States  to  another,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
the  tory  sentiment  was  strongest  with  the  non-English  population." 
— Fiske's  American  Revolution,  vol.  i.,  p.  202. 

Nowhere  was  a  race  of  purer  English  descent  than  on  the  Plains 
of  Hempstead  or  seated  beside  the  many  indenting  coves  of  western 
Nassau. 


342  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

not  the  original  object  of  the  war.  It  was  not  until 
an  irretrievable  step  had  been  taken,  that  the  Whigs 
were  forced  to  that  issue.  When  James  Otis  said  in 
the  Boston  Town  Meeting  of  1763,  "  What  God  in 
His  Providence  hath  united,  let  no  man  dare  attempt 
to  pull  asunder,"  he  voiced  the  feeling  of  every 
colony  from  the  Penobscot  to  the  Savannah.  Wash- 
ington, in  the  fall  of  1774,  was  "  convinced  that  not 
one  thinking  man  desired  Independence." '  A  little 
later,  Jay  "  held  nothing  in  greater  abhorrence  than 
the  malignant  charge  of  aspiring  after  Indepen- 
dence."" When  the  event  was  achieved,  Madison, 
in  calm  retrospect,  wrote :  "  A  re-establishmcint  of 
the  colonial  relations  with  the  parent  country  as 
they  were  previous  to  the  controversy,  was  the  real 
object  of  every  class  of  the  people  until  they 
despaired  of  obtaining  it." 

Such  was  the  voice  of  acknowledged  leaders. 
When  John  Adams  could  say,  "  There  was  not  a 
moment  during  the  war  when  I  would  not  have 
given  everything  I  possessed  for  a  restoration  to  the 
state  of  things  before  the  contest  began  provided  we 
could  have  had  a  suiificient  security  for  its  continu- 
ance,"— when  Adams  could  speak  thus,°  is  it  strange 
that  Long  Island  men  of  conservative  mould  and 
careful  nurture  clung  to  the  crown  and  to  the  estab- 

'  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  v. ,  p.  90. 
*  Winsor's  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  vii, ,  p.  20g, 
2  Yet  such  the  frenzy  of  the  time  that  Adams  wrote  from  Amster- 
dam, Dec.  15,  1780,  recommending  more  severe  measures  against 
the  Loyalists,  and  saying,  "I  would  have  hanged  my  own  brother 
had  he  taken  part  with  the  enemy  in  this  contest." — Annual  Register, 
1781,  p.  260. 


OPPOSITION   TO  INDEPENDENCE.  343 

lished  government  ?  It  is  hard  to  refuse  the  name 
of  patriot  to  those  whose  love  of  country  stood  the 
supreme  test  to  which  these  much  maligned  men 
were  subjected. 

It  is  the  fond  fancy  of  the  present  generation  that 
every  man  of  the  revolutionary  era  not  stigmatised 
as  "a  tory,"'  was  an  ardent  adherent  of  the  revolt- 
ing colonies.  An  exact  canvass  would  be  now  im- 
possible, but  at  the  end  of  the  war  Adams  declared 
that  "  one  third  the  whole  population  and  more 
than  one  third  the  principal  people  of  America  were 
thoroughly  opposed  to  the  Revolution."  This  was 
emphatically  true  in  New  York,  where  "  it  is  prob- 
able that  more  than  half  her  people  were  never 
really  in  hearty,  active  sympathy  with  the  patriots." " 
In  his  philosophic  study  of  the  Eighteenth  Century, 
the  judicial  Lecky  writes  in  simple  justice  to  this 
misunderstood  class: 

"  There  were  brave  and  honest  men  in  America 
who  were  proud  of  the  great  and  free  empire  to 
which  they  belonged.  .  .  .  Most  of  them  ended  their 
days  in  poverty  and  exile,  and  as  the  supporters 
of  a  beaten  cause  history  has  paid  but  a  scanty 
tribute  to  their  memory,  but  they  comprised  some  of 
the  best  and  ablest  men  America  has  ever  produced, 
and  they  were  contending  for  an  ideal  at  least  as 
worthy  as  that  for  which  Washington  fought,  the 

'  "  The  Loyalists  of  '76  had  greater  grounds  for  believing  them- 
selves right  than  the  men  who  tried  to  break  up  the  Union  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  later.  It  is  unfair  to  brand  the  '  tory  '  of  '76 
vifith  a  shame  no  longer  felt  to  pertain  to  the  '  rebel '  of  i860." — 
Roosevelt's  Life  of  Gouverneur  Morris,  p.  29. 

''Ibid.,  p.  36. 


344  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

maintenance  of  one  free,  industrial  and  pacific  em- 
pire, comprising  the  whole  English  race,  holding  the 
richest  plains  of  Asia  in  subjection,  blending  all  that 
was  most  venerable  in  ancient  civilisation  with  the 
redundant  energies  of  a  youthful  society.  It  might 
have  been  a  dream,  but  it  was  at  least  a  noble  one, 
and  there  were  Americans  who  were  prepared  to 
make  any  personal  sacrifice  rather  than  to  assist  to 
destroy  it." ' 

The  opprobrious  epithet  of  Tory,"  like  all  party 
nicknames,  was  used  indiscriminately,  and  as  the 
expression  of  partisan  hatred.  Abuse  is  the  logic 
of  the  ignorant.  It  was  given  to  all  who  endeav- 
oured to  preserve  law  and  order,  to  protect  the  rights 
of  person  and  property.  Hence  it  followed  as  Sabine 
has  well  said,  that  "  many  who  took  sides  at  the  out- 
set as  mere  conservators  of  the  peace  were  denounced 
by  those  whose  purposes  they  had  thwarted,  and 
finally  compelled  in  pure  self-defence  to  accept  the 
royal  protection  ;  they  were  then  identified  with  the 
royal  party  ever  after." 

No  one  contributed  more  to  this  blind  hatred  and 
low  invective  than  the  able  author  of  The  Crisis, 
who  in  denouncing  their  principles  denied  them  every 

'  History  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  iii.,  p.  418. 

'^  In  1777,  John  Eliot  wrote  from  Boston  to  Jeremy  Belknap  :  "  I 
dined  yesterday  with  a  gentleman  of  repute  who  undertook  to  prove 
that  a  tory  could  not  be  saved.  He  laid  down  the  data  from  the 
American  Crisis  that  '  every  Tory  must  be  a  coward. because  it  im- 
plied a  slavish  fear  in  its  very  idea.'"  Again,  speaking  of  a  meeting 
held  in  Boston  to  denounce  and  to  concert  measures  against  the 
tories,  Eliot  says,  "  It  has  got  to  be  just  as  the  affair  of  the  witches, 
every  man  naming  his  neighbour." 


CONSCIENTIOUS  OFFICE-HOLDERS.  345 

personal  virtue.  In  No.  I.  of  that  stirring  series,  he 
says :  "  I  should  not  be  afraid  to  go  with  a  hundred 
Whigs  against  a  thousand  Tories  were  they  to 
attempt  to  get  into  arms.  Every  Tory  is  a  coward, 
for  a  servile,  slavish,  self-interested  fear  is  at  the 
foundation  of  Toryism,  and  a  man  under  such  in- 
fluence, though  he  may  be  cruel,  cannot  be  brave."  ' 
Again,  he  says  in  No.  III. :  "  Here  is  the  touchstone 
to  try  men  by :  He  that  is  not  a  supporter  of  the 
Independent  States  of  America  in  the  same  degree  that 
his  religious  and  political  principles  would  suffer  him 
to  support  the  government  of  any  other  country  of 
which  he  called  himself  a  subject,  is,  in  the  American 
sense  of  the  word,  a  Tory,  and  the  instant  he  endeav- 
ours to  put  his  Toryism  into  practice  he  becomes  a 
Traitor."  "  A  banditti  of  hungry  traitors,"  "  a  set 
of  avaricious  miscreants,"  are  other  terms  used  by 
Paine. 

Many  persons  holding  office  under  the  King  felt 
themselves  thus  debarred  from  an  active  part  in  a 
cause  which  they  might  otherwise  have  supported. 
Associators  signed  the  pledge  with  the  reservation, 
"Not  to  infringe  on  my  oaths,"  or,  "as  far  as  it 
doth  not  interfere  with  the  oath  of  my  office,  or  my 
allegiance  to  the  King."  As  the  worthy  Governor 
Hutchinson  wrote  in  the  spring  of  1776:  "I  told 
Sir  George  [Hay]  I  ever  thought  the  taxing  of 
America  by  Parliament  not  advisable,  but  as  a  ser- 
vant of  the  Crown,  I  thought  myself  bound  to  dis- 
countenance the  violent  opposition  made  to  the 
Act "  (the  Stamp  Act),  "  as  it  led  to  the  denial  of 
'  Force's  American  Archives,  series  v.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  1292. 


346  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

its  authority  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  and  in  fact 
brought  on  the  Rebellion."  ' 

Such  a  correspondence  as  the  one  recently  pub- 
lished between  Jeremy  Belknap  and  Governor  Went- 
worth  of  New  Hampshire,  shows  well  the  feeling  of 
moderate  men  on  either  side,  and  what  a  field  there 
was  for  judicious  compromise,  rather  than  for  angry 
recrimination  and  armed  assault. 

Although  vilified  by  careless  tradition,  and  by 
superficial  or  prejudiced  historians,  Long  Island  has 
been  from  the  earliest  times  not  a  "  hotbed  of  tories," 
but  a  nursery  of  the  noblest  political  principles.  The 
spirit  of  those  freeholders  in  Landtdag  assembled, 
who  defied  Stuyvesant,  came  down  to  the  eighteenth 
century.  It  was  the  fathers  of  the  men  who  in  1775 
pledged  themselves  to  continued  allegiance  to  their 
king,  who  in  171 1,  in  the  New  York  Assembly,  denied 
the  power  of  the  Council  to  alter  the  revenue  bills,  and 
who  had  made  the  first  official  protest  against  Taxa- 
tion without  Representation,  the  popular  watchword 
of  the  Revolution.  The  pure  flame  then  kindled 
was  never  quite  extinguished.  It  was  fanned  by  the 
breath  of  the  most  sincere  patriotism.  Honest  men 
seeking  only  to  do  their  duty  to  king  and  native 
land  differed  conscientiously,  with  the  same  prayer- 
ful struggles  with  which  Robert  Lee  and  "  Stonewall " 
Jackson  wrestled  to  discover  what  that  duty  might 
be." 

^  Diary  and  Letters,  vol.  ii.,  p.  58. 

'  Thomas  Paine,  in  Common  Sense,  classifies  the  Loyalists,  or 
"  Reconstructionists "  (whom  he  also  calls  "Obstructionists"),  as 
"  Interested  men  who  are  not  to  be  trusted  ;  weak  men  who  cannot 


THE  NEWTOWN  RESOLUTIONS.  347 

The  success  which  determines  the  reputed  moral- 
ity of  so  many  actions  pronounced  against  the  con- 
servative element.  There  are  few  to  remember  or 
to  do  justice  to  the  faithful  adherents  of  a  lost 
cause.  Hence  the  Loyalists  of  Long  Island,  with 
their  many  brothers  in  New  England  and  the  South, 
have  borne  a  most  undeserved  ignominy.  Their 
historian  must  bear  the  spear  of  Ithuriel  as  he 
balances  the  conflicting  evidence  and  the  contra- 
dictory traditions  which  make  up  their  story. 

Until  the  issue  became  that  of  armed  resistance  to 
the  King,  Long  Island  was  earnest  in  protest  against 
"  ministerial  oppression."  Meetings  had  been  held, 
resolutions  passed,  and  Committees  of  Correspond- 
ence appointed,  in  reference  to  the  Stamp  Act. 
After  the  passage  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  the  people 
of  Newtown  express  themselves  in  a  series  of  spirited 
Resolutions : 

"  First,  that  we  consider  it  our  greatest  happiness 
and  glory  to  be  governed  by  the  illustrious  House  of 
Hanover,  and  that  we  acknowledge  and  bear  true 
allegiance  to  King  George  the  third  as  our  rightful 
sovereign." 

The  second,  third,  and  fourth  Resolutions  com- 
ment on  the  Bill,  and  they  conclude  by 

"  Fifthly,  Resolved,  we  highly  approve  of  the 
wise,  prudent  and  constitutional  mode  of  opposition 
adopted  by  our  worthy  Delegates   in  the  General 

see  ;  prejudiced  men  who  will  not  see,  and  moderate  men  who  think 
better  of  England  than  it  deserves,  and  these  will  be  the  cause  of 
more  calamity  than  all  the  other  three."  Later,  in  The  Crisis  he  be- 
comes more  bitter  in  denunciation. 


348  EARLY  LONG  LSLAND. 

Congress  to  the  late  tyrannical  acts  of  the  British 
Parliament." 

The  frequent  expression,  in  the  memorials  of  the 
day,  of  devotion  to  the  "  illustrious  House  of  Han- 
over "  may  well  provoke  a  smile,  but  it  was  a  sincere 
devotion.  The  sentiment  of  loyalty  to  the  sovereign 
was  the  growth  of  centuries,  and  existed  irrespective 
of  the  individual  wearer  of  the  crown.  The  change 
of  dynasty  which  enthroned  the  stolid  Electors  of 
Hanover  v/as  a  triumph  of  the  best  principles  of 
English  constitutional  freedom,  and  as  such  exalted 
the  line  of  Georges.  Nor  was  the  divinity  that  doth 
hedge  a  king  easily  forgotten.  Not  the  King,  but  his 
bad  advisers,  bore  the  brunt  of  American  hatred. 
Even  Washington  spoke  most  often  of  the  "  Minis- 
terial troops." 

On  the  day  following  the  adoption  of  the  New- 
town Resolutions,"  about  ninety  freeholders  of 
Oyster  Bay  had  convened  to  consider  the  growing 
trouble  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother 
country,  when  there  "  appeared  such  a  number  of 
friends  to  our  happy,  regular  and  established  gov- 
ernment under  the  Crown  and  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain  as  to  deem  the  meeting  illegal  and  that  no 
business  could  with  propriety  be  done." 

A  little  earlier,  December  6th,  the  people  of 
Jamaica  had  gathered  at  the  inn  of  Increase  Car- 
penter and  had  instructed  the  constable,  Othniel 
Smith,  to  "  warn  the  ffreeholders  "  to  a  meeting  at 
the  Court  House  to  discuss  the  state  of  public  affairs. 
The  records  of  this  meeting  evince  a  marked  har- 

'  December  30,  1774.     See  Am.  Archives,  ser.  iv.,  vol.  i.,  p.  1076. 


THE  JAMAICA   RESOLUTIONS.  349 

mony  between  now  apparently  conflicting  principles. 
Fidelity  to  the  King  and  a  bold  assertion  of  their 
own  constitutional  rights  as  freemen  are  equally 
emphasised.  After  asserting  their  "  intention  to 
maintain  the  dependency  of  the  Colonies  upon  the 
Crown  of  Great  Britain  and  to  render  true  allegiance 
to  his  Majesty  King  George,"  the  Jamaica  Free- 
holders resolve : 

"  Secondly,  It  is  our  undoubted  right  to  be  taxed 
only  by  our  own  consent,  given  by  ourselves,  or  our 
representatives,  and  that  the  taxes  imposed  upon  us 
by  Parliament  are  unjust  and  unconstitutional,  and 
are  a  manifest  infringement  of  our  dearest  and  most 
inviolable  privileges. 

"  Thirdly,  We  have  esteemed  it  our  greatest  civil 
happiness  and  glory  to  be  subject  to  the  Crown  and 
Excellent  Constitution  of  Great  Britain.  We  are 
one  people  with  the  Mother  Country,  connected  by 
the  strongest  ties  of  duty,  interest  and  religion  & 
we  lament  as  the  greatest  misfortune,  the  late  un- 
happy disputes. 

'*  Fifthly,  We  heartily  sympathise  with  our  breth- 
ren of  Boston  in  their  present  unexampled  suffer- 
ings, and  regard  the  Acts  of  Parliament  under  which 
they  groan,  as  unjust,  cruel,  unconstitutional  and 
oppressive  in  the  highest  degree,  and  levelled  not 
only  at  them  in  particular,  but  at  the  liberties  of  the 
other  Colonies  and  the  British  Empire  in  General. 

"  Sixthly,  That  we  do  most  gratefully  acknowledge 
the  difficult  and  important  services  rendered  to  the 
country  by  the  late  General  Congress  at  Philadel- 


350  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

phia'  and  that  we  highly  approve  their  measures 
and  will  use  all  prudent  and  constitutional  en- 
deavours to  carry  those  measures  into  execution. 

"  Seventhly,  We  appoint  for  our   Committee  of 
Correspondence 


Revd.  Abraham  Keteltas 

Dr. 

John  Innis 

Capt.  Ephraim  Bailey 

Mr, 

,  Wm.  Ludlam 

"     Joseph  French 

(( 

Joseph  Robertson 

Mr.  Richard  Betts 

it 

Elias  Bailey." 

A  little  later,  January  19,  1775,  this  Committee, 
"  with  hearts  penetrated  with  unutterable  grati- 
tude," address  the  Provincial  Delegates  to  the  late 
Congress,  expressing  the  most  "  hearty  acquiescence 
in  the  Measures  adopted." 

A  more  calm,  judicial  attitude  could  not  easily 
have  been  taken  than  in  the  above  Resolutions,  an 
attitude  at  once  loyal  to  the  Mother  Country,  cog- 
nisant of  the  daughter's  wrongs  and  firm  in  the 
assertion  of  her  rights.  But  the  action  of  this  meet- 
ing did  not  please  all  the  townspeople  who  suspected 
lurking  rebellion  therein,  and  they  protest,  saying : 
"  We  never  gave  our  assent,  as  we  disapprove  of  all 

'  There  had  been  much  opposition  to  the  meeting  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  August  2,  1774.  Under  that  date,  Cadwallader 
Golden  wrote  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth:  "  Great  pains  have  been 
taken  in  the  several  counties  of  this  Province  to  induce  the  People  to 
send  Commissioners  to  join  the  Committee  in  this  City,  but  they  have 
only  prevailed  in  Suffolk  Co.  in  the  East  End  of  Long  Island  vphich 
vras  settled  from  Connecticut  and  the  Inhabitants  still  retain  a  great 
similarity  of  Manners  &  Sentiments." 

Again,  in  October,  he  writes  :  "  In  Queen's  County  where  I  have 
a  House  and  reside  the  Summer  Season,  six  Persons  have  not  been 
got  together  for  the  Purpose,  and  the  Inhabitants  remain  firm  in  their 
Resolution  not  to  join  the  Congress." 


"THE  HEMPSTEAD   CONFESSION  OF  FAITH."      35 1 

unlawful  meetings;  We  resolve  to  continue  faithful 
subjects  of  his  Majesty  King  George  the  Third,  our 
most  gracious  Sovereign."  To  this  are  signed  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  of  the  most  reputable  names 
among  which  are  the  majority  of  the  freeholders  of 
the  town. 

On  the  last  day  of  March,  1775,  the  motion  to  send 
Delegates  from  Queens  County  to  the  Provincial 
Congress  to  be  assembled  at  New  York  was  lost  by 
twelve  votes  (ninety-four  against  eighty-two).  In 
Jamaica  and  Hempstead  were  the  strongest  Episco- 
pal Churches  on  the  Island.  There  were  the  estates 
of  many  of  the  Crown  officers,  and  with  an  intelli- 
gent yeomanry,  were  many  families  of  more  than 
colonial  distinction.  In  such  a  community,  the  seeds 
of  revolt  could  not  easily  germinate,  nor  the  idea  of 
any  revolution  in  affairs  civil,  political,  or  social  find 
friends. 

In  Hempstead  village,  then  a  hamlet  of  a  dozen 
houses  with  a  few  outlying  plantations,  the  free- 
holders met  on  April  4th,  and  unanimously  bore  testi- 
mony against  "  all  provincial  assemblies  or  congresses 
whatsoever,"  in  a  "  Confession  of  Faith,"  drawn  up 
by  Valentine  Hewlett  Peters,  a  most  noteworthy 
document  known  in  history  as  the  "  Hempstead 
Resolutions." ' 

In  Oyster  Bay,  at  the  yearly  Town  Meeting,*  March 
4th,  Thomas  Smith  Moderator,  Samuel  Townsend 
read  a  letter  from  the  Chairman  of  the  New  York 
Committee,  urging  the  choice  of  a  Deputy,  a  subject 
which  had  been  previously  submitted  to  the  Meet- 
'  See  Appendix  i, 


352  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

ing.  A  vote  was  taken,  resulting  in  forty-two  in 
favour  and  two  hundred  and  five  against  the  election 
of  a  Deputy.  A  week  later,  the  forty-two  met  and 
chose  as  their  own  delegate,  Zebulon  Williams, 
"  being  determined  "  as  they  wrote  the  Committee 
in  New  York,  "  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  keep  in 
Unity  with  you." 

When,  on  April  20th,  the  representatives  of  the 
various  counties  of  the  Province'  met  in  Convention 
at  the  Exchange  in  New  York,  they  formed  them- 
selves into  a  Provincial  Congress."  In  reference  to 
the  very  irregular  election  of  Mr.  Williams  and  his 
associates,  the  body  resolved  that  "  the  gentlemen 
from  Queen's  County  be  allowed  to  be  present  at 
the  deliberations,  and  would  take  into  consideration 
any  advice  they  may  offer,  but  cannot  allow  them  a 
vote,  with  which  the  gentlemen  express  themselves 
satisfied,  and  say  they  do  not  think  themselves  en- 
titled to  vote." 

'  Long  Island  was  represented  by  the  following  men  : 
From  King's  County  : 
Simon  Boerum,  Esq.  Capt.  Richard  Stillman 

Mr.  Theodoras  Polhemus  Mr.  Denice  Denice 

Mr.  John  Van  der  Bilt. 
From  Queen's  County  : 
Col.  Jacob  Blackwell  Mr.  John  Talman 

Joseph  Robinson  Zebulon  Williams. 

From  Suffolk  County : 
Col.  Wm.  Floyd  Col.  Nathaniel  Woodhull 

' '    Phiueas  Fanning  Thomas  Treadwell 

John  Sloss  Hubbard. 
=  "  A  thing  unknown  to  the  British  Constitution. "—Thomas  Jones, 
History  of  New  York  during  the  Revolution,  vol.  i.,  p.  37. 


ASSOCIATIONS  FORMED.  353 

The  Congress  broke  up  April  22d.  The  next 
morning  came  the  news  from  Lexington  and  Con- 
cord. The  New  York  Committee  at  once  sent  out 
circulars  requesting  deputies  to  be  chosen  for  a  new 
Congress '  to  come  together  May  24th. 

As  "  the  shot  heard  round  the  world "  echoed 
through  the  green  dells  and  among  the  pleasant 
farmsteads  of  Long  Island,  there,  as  elsewhere,  it 
roused  the  people  to  earnest  but  conflicting  action. 
Associations  were  formed,  drawing  up  a  pledge  by 
which  the  signers  bound  themselves  to  stand  by  one 
another,  and  by  the  Continental  Congress." 

Anticipating  the  occupation  of  Long  Island  by 
the  British  Army,  companies  of  minute-men  were 
formed  and  drilled,  chiefly  in  Suffolk  County,  where 

'  "  There  were  chosen  for  the  Township  of  Broecklyn  in 
icing's  Co.  : 
Henry  "Williams,  Esq.  Johannes  E.  Lolt 

Jeremiah  Remsen  Theodoras  Polhemus 

John  Leffertse  John  Vanderbilt 

Nich.  Couwenhoven. 

For  Suffolk  Co.  : 
Col.  N.  WoodhuU  John  Foster 

John  Sloss  Hubbard  Ezra  L'Hommedieu 

Thos.  Treadwell,  Esq.  Thos.  Wickham 

James  Havens  Selah  Strong. 

For  Queen's  Co.  : 

Col.  Jacob  Blackwell  Sam'l  Townsend 

Jon.  Lawrence  Joseph  French 

Dan'l  Rapalje,  Esq.  Thos.  Hicks 

Zebulon  Williams  Jos.  Robinson 

Capt.  Richard  Thome  Nath'l  Tom." 
'  See  Appendix  ii. ,  p.  502. 
23 


354  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

suspicion  of  and  enmity  toward  supposed  Loyalists 
was  most  virulent.' 

In  September,  all  Loyalists,  all  who  were  not 
Associators,  or  who  were  suspected  of  having  be- 
come such  through  fear,  were  disarmed  by  order  of 
the  Provincial  Congress."  On  October  6th  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  resolved  "  that  it  be  recommended 
to  the  several  Provincial  Assemblies  and  Commit- 

■  General  Wooster  writes  to  Governor  Trumbull  a.  letter  from 
Oyster  Ponds,  August  14,  1775,  which  indicates  the  state  of  feeling: 

"The  committees  of  Brookhaven  and  Smithtown  have  taken  and 
sent  to  me  the  Reverend  yames  Lyon  a  Church  of  England  clergy- 
man, a  man  of  infamous  character,  but  a  pretty  sensible  fellow  who 
has  corresponded  with  James  Lloyd  of  Boston.  This  Parson  Lyon 
by  what  I  can  learn  is  the  mainspring  of  all  the  Tories  on  this  part  of 
Long  Island.  .  .  .  The  committees  of  the  several  adjacent  towns 
thinking  him  a  very  dangerous  person  to  remain  among  them,  have 
desired  me  to  take  care  of  him.  I  therefore  send  him  to  the  care  of 
the  committee  of  Hartford  until  they  can  receive  your  known 
orders." 

Gen.  Wooster  was  in  Suffolk,  pursuant  to  an  order  of  Congress, 
August  7,  1775,  to  go  with  four  companies  of  troops  to  the  East  End 
of  Long  Island  to  assist  in  protection  of  the  cattle  from  the  raids  of 
the  "  Ministerial  Army." 

"  "  September  i5  :  1775. 

"  Resolved,  That  all  such  arms  as  are  fit  for  the  use  of  the  troops 
raised  in  this  Colony,  as  shall  be  found  in  the  hands  of  any  person 
who  has  not  signed  the  General  Association  shall  be  impressed  for  the 
use  of  the  said  Troops.  The  Arms  shall  be  appraised  by  three  indif- 
ferent persons  who  shall  give  a  Certificate  which  shall  entitle  the 
owners  to  receive  the  appraised  value  thereof."  (There  is  no  record 
of  its  having  been  ever  paid.) 

"  Ordered,  that  the  Captains  of  the  Third  Regiment  of  the  Troops 
of  this  Colony,  now  in  Suffolk  County,  carry  these  Resolutions  into 
effect  in  Queen's  Co.  and  that  Col.  Lasher  be  instructed  to  send  two 
or  more  companies  of  his  Battery  to  give  such  assistance  as  may  be 
necessary  in  Queen's  County." 


THE  JAMAICA   ELECTION.  355 

tees  of  Safety,  to  arrest  and  secure  every  person  in 
their  respective  Colonies  who  going  at  large,  may  in 
their  opinion  endanger  the  safety  of  the  Colonies  or 
the  liberties  of  the  people."  "  In  their  opinion  " 
was  a  phrase  susceptible  of  the  most  free  inter- 
pretation. 

When  the  election  for  deputies'  was  held  at 
Jamaica,  November  7,  1775,  every  freeman  of  the 
county  voted.  The  polls  were  open  from  Tuesday 
to  Saturday  and  one  thousand  and  nine  votes  were 
cast.  Of  these,  seven  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
were  against  sending  delegates."  Queens  County 
was  thus  unrepresented  in  the  Provincial  Congress 
until  its  session  of  May,  1776.'  Shortly  after  the 
election,  the  Congress  published  "  A  List  of  Queen's 

'  The  candidates  were  : 

Col.  J.  Blackwell Newtown 

Sam'l  Townsend,  Esq Oyster  Bay 

Wm.    Townsend Oyster  Bay 

Waters  Smith Jamaica 

Benj.  Sands Cow  Neck 

Jeronimus   Remsen,   Jr. ..Newtown 

Stephen  Van  Wyck Flushing 

'  For  Poll  List,  see  Historical  MSS.  of  the  American  Revolution, 

vol.  i.,  pp.  181-6. 
'  An  election  was  held  April  17,  1776,  in  which  were  chosen  as 

Deputies  : 

Jacob   Blackwell Newtown 

Jon.   Lawrence Newtown 

Cornelius  Van  Wyck Success 

Samuel   Townsend Oyster  Bay 

James   Townsend Oyster  Bay 

Capt.  John  Williams North  Side 

Thos.  Hicks Flushing 

or  "  any  three  of  them." 


3S6  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Co:  Tories,"  known  as  "  The  Black  List,"  and  fol- 
lowed within  a  week  by  still  more  arbitrary  action. 

"  In  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York 
Dec.  12.  1774. 

"  Whereas  this  Congress  has  received  undoubted 
information  that  a  Number  of  Disaffected  Persons 
in  Queen's  County  have  been  supplied  with  arms 
and  ammunition  from  on  board  the  Asia,  Ship  of 
War,  and  are  arraying  themselves  in  Military  man- 
ner to  oppose  the  measures  taking  by  the  United 
Colonies  for  the  Defense  of  their  just  Rights  and 
Privileges,  it  is  ordered  that  of 

yamaica  Township 
Capt.  Benj.  Whitehead  Wm.  Weyman 

Chas.  Ardin  John  Sholes 

Josp.  French  esq"^  Jeronimus  Rapalye 

Johannes  Polhemus 

Newtown 
Nath'l  Moore  J.  Moore  Jun. 

J  Moore  Sen.  Capt.  Sam'l  Hulett 

Flushing  Township 
John  Willet 

Oyster  Bay 

Justice  Thomas  Smith,  Hog  Island 

John  Hewlett  Capt.  Geo.  Weeks 

"       John  Townsend  Dr.   David  Brooks 

Hempstead 
Gabriel  G.  Ludlow       Justice  Sam'l  Clowes 
Richard  Hewlett  "       Gilbert  Van  Wyck 

Capt.  Charles  Hicks     Dan'l  Kissam,  Esq.,  Cow  Neck 
Doctor  Martin  Capt.  Jacob  Mott 

Thos.  Cornell,  Rockaway, 


ACTION  OF  THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS.      357 

being  charged  as  Principall  men  among  the  Dis- 
affected in  the  said  County  do  attend  this  Congress 
on  Tuesday  morning  next,  the  19th  inst.  to  give 
satisfaction  in  the  Premises  &  that  they  be  pro- 
tected from  any  Injury  or  Insult  in  their  coming  to 
and  returning  from  this  Congress. 

"  Nath'l  Woodhull 
"  President."  ' 

On  Dec.  21st,  after  a  similar  preamble,  the  Con- 
gress resolve  that  "  Such  conduct  is  inimical  to 
the  Common  Cause  of  the  United  Colonies  and 
ought  not  by  any  means  to  be  suffered,  and  meas- 
ures should  be  taken  to  put  a  stop  to  it."  The  in- 
habitants of  Queens  were  summoned  to  appear 
before  the  Congress  on  the  next  Wednesday,  and 
failing  to  appear,  the  Congress  declared  them  to  be 
"  guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  General  Association  and 
open  Contempt  of  this  Congress  and  that  the  said 
delinquents,  each  and  every  one  of  them,  be  and 
hereby  are  put  entirely  out  of  the  protection  of  this 
Congress,  and  that  no  person  plead  ignorance,  their 
names  are  to  be  published."  A  list  of  seven  hun- 
dred and  forty  names  follows." 

Isaac  Sears,  whose  burning  of  Rivington's  Print- 
ing Office,  in  November,  had  brought  upon  him  both 
commendation  and  opprobrium,  then  went  to  Cam- 
bridge to  represent,  at  the  Headquarters  of  the 
Army,  the  great  danger  to  New  York  from  the 
Long  Island  "  Tories."  The  New  York  Assembly 
had  meanwhile  sent  to  the  General  Congress    the 

'  Hist.  MSS.  of  Am.  Rev.,  vol.  i.,  p.  202. 
'  Am.  Archives,  ser.  iv.  vol.  iv.,  p.  372. 


358  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Jamaica  Poll  List,  with  the  request  that  Long  Island 
be  disarmed.  The  matter  was  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee whose  members  were  Samuel  Adams,  William 
Livingston,  and  John  Jay.  In  that  trio,  the  pacific 
Jay  would  be  powerless,  and  the  Committee  reported 
in  favour  of  the  proposed  course.  The  Congress, 
after  a  preliminary  recommendation  to  the  several 
Colonies  "  by  the  most  speedy  and  efficient  measures 
to  frustrate  the  mischievous  machinations  and  to 
restrain  the  wicked  practises  of  these  men,"  con- 
tinued with  the  preamble  of  "  The  Tory  Act," 
passed  January  3,  1776: 

"  Whereas  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Queen's 
County  in  the  Colony  of  New  York,  being  incapable 
of  resolving  to  live  and  die  freemen,  and  being  more 
disposed  to  quit  their  liberties  than  to  part  with  the 
little  proportion  of  their  property  necessary  to 
defend  them,  have  deserted  the  American  cause  by 
refusing  to  send  Deputies  as  usual  to  the  Conven- 
tion of  that  Colony,  and  avowing  by  a  publick 
Declaration  an  unmanly  Design  of  remaining  inac- 
tive spectators  of  the  present  contest,  vainly  flatter- 
ing themselves,  perhaps,  that  should  Providence 
declare  for  our  Enemies,  they  may  purchase  their 
mercy  and  favour  at  an  easy  rate,  and  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  war  should  terminate  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  Americans,  they  may  enjoy  without  ex- 
pense of  blood  or  treasure,  all  the  blessings  which 
have  resulted  from  the  liberty  which  they  in  the  day 
of  trial  had  deserted,  and  in  defence  of  which  many 
of  their  more  virtuous  neighbours  and  countrymen 
have  nobly  died,  and  although  the  want  of  publick 


THE    TORY  ACT.  359 

spirit  observable  in  these  men  rather  excited  pity 
than  alarm,  there  being  h'ttle  danger  to  apprehend 
from  them,  either  from  their  prowess  or  example, 
yet  it  being  reasonable  that  those  who  refuse  to 
defend  their  country  should  be  excluded  from  its 
protection,  and  from  doing  it  injury,  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  first  that  all  such  persons  in  Queen  s 
County  as  voted  against  sending  Deputies  to  the 
present  Convention  of  New  York,  and  named  in  a 
list  of  (delinquents  in  Queen's  County,  published  by 
the  Convention  of  New  York,  be  put  out  of  the  pro- 
tection of  the  United  Colonies  and  that  all  trade  and 
intercourse  with  them  cease ;  and  that  none  of  the 
inhabitants  be  permitted  to  travel  or  abide  in  any 
part  of  these  United  Colonies  without  a  certificate 
from  the  Convention,  or  Committee  of  Safety  of  the 
Colony  of  New  York,  setting  forth  that  such  inhabi- 
tant is  a  friend  to  the  American  Cause  and  not  of 
the  number  of  those  who  voted  against  sending 
Deputies  to  the  said  Convention,  and  that  such  of 
the  Inhabitants  as  shall  be  found  out  of  the  said 
County  without  such  certificate  shall  be  appre- 
hended and  imprisoned  three  months. 

"  Resolved,  That  no  Attorney  or  Lawyer  ought  to 
commence,  prosecute  or  defend  any  action  at  Law 
of  any  kind  for  any  of  the  said  Inhabitants  of 
Queen's  County  who  voted  against  sending  Deputies 
to  the  said  Convention  as  aforesaid,  and  such 
Attorney  or  Lawyer  as  shall  contravene  this  Act, 
is  an  enemy  to  the  American  cause  and  ought  to  be 
treated  as  such. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Convention,  or  Committee  of 


360  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Safety,  of  the  Colony  of  Neiv  York  be  requested  to 
continue  publishing  for  a  month  in  all  these  Gazettes 
and  newspapers,  the  names  of  all  such  Inhabitants 
of  Queen's  as  voted  against  sending  Deputies,  and 
to  give  Certificates  to  such  other  of  the  said  Inhabi- 
tants as  are  friends  to  American  Liberty. 

"And  it  is  recommended  to  all  Committees  of 
Safety,  Conventions  and  others  to  be  diligent  in 
executing  the  above  Resolutions. 

''Resolved,  That  Colonel  Nathaniel  Heard  of 
Woodbridge  in  the  Colony  of  New  Jersey,  taking 
with  him  five  or  six  hundred  minute-men  under  dis- 
creet officers,  do  march  to  the  western  part  of 
Queens  s  Couiity,  and  that  Col.  Waterbury  of  Stam- 
ford, in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  with  the  like 
number  of  minute-men,  march  to  the  eastern  part  of 
the  said  county,  on  the  same  day,  that  they  confer 
together  and  endeavour  to  enter  into  the  said 
county  on  the  same  day,  and  that  they  proceed  to 
disarm  every  person  in  the  said  county  who  voted 
against  sending  Deputies  to  the  said  Convention 
and  cause  them  to  deliver  up  their  arms  and  ammu- 
nition on  oath,  and  that  they  take  and  confine  in 
safe  custody  until  further  orders  all  such  as  refuse 
compliance,  and  that  they  apprehend  and  secure 
until  further  orders  the  disaffected  of  the  said 
county,  in  a  summons  for  their  apprehension  before 
the  Convention  of  New  York,  issued  the  12th  of 
December  last,  viz.:" — (see  p.  356).' 

At  this  juncture,  when  the  inflammable  feelings  of 
both  Loyalists  and  Whigs  needed  the  most  judicious 
^  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  1630, 


LETTERS   OF   CHARLES  LEE.  361 

and  conciliatory  measures,  the  inconsiderate  course 
of  General  Charles  Lee  '  by  the  Iroquois,  fitly  named 
"  Boiling  Water,"  wrought  much  mischief  to  the 
Colonial  cause.  On  January  5,  1776,  he  wrote  to 
Washington,  asking  for  a  body  of  Connecticut  Vol- 
unteers "  sufificient  for  the  expulsion  or  suppression 
of  that  dangerous  banditti  of  Tories  which  have  ap- 
peared on  Long  Island  with  the  expressed  intention 
of  acting  against  the  authority  of  Congress.  Not  to 
crush  these  serpents  before  their  rattles  are  grown 
would  be  ruinous.""  Colonel  Waterbury  was 
detailed  for  Long  Island  service,  but  soon  recalled. 
On  January  i6th,  Lee  again  wrote  to  Washington 
from  New  Haven,  saying :  "  Col.  Waterbury  had 
raised  a  regiment  of  500  men  who  were  to  have 
landed  in  Oyster  Bay  and  attacked  the  Tories  of 
Long  Island.     Lord  Sterling '  was  to  have  attacked 

'  The  English  regarding  Lee  as  doubly  a  traitor  were  always  bitter 
against  him.  "  An  officer  at  New  York  to  a  friend  in  London," 
1777,  says:  "Many  of  our  soldiers  earnestly  wish  for  a  personal 
knowledge  of  Gen.  Lee  to  avoid  either  killing  or  wounding  him, 
that  a  native  of  Britain  who  from  disappointed  ambition  has  planted 
the  point  against  the  Power  that  first  put  a  sword  in  his  hand  and 
paid  for  his  military  education,  may  be  prepared  for  his  grave  with 
out  the  least  impression  of  any  martial  instrument.'' 

'  Charles  Lee  Papers,  i.,  237,  in  Proceedings  New  York  Historical 
Society,  1871. 

^  William  Alexander,  titular  Earl  of  Sterling,  1726-83,  was  the  col- 
lateral dscendant  of  Lord  Sterling,  the  first  English  Patentee  of  Long 
Island.  His  title  was  not  allowed  in  England.  Educated  as  a  sur- 
veyor, he  had  succeeded  his  father  as  Surveyor-General  of  New  Jer- 
sey. He  had  been  with  General  Shirley  as  aide-de-camp  in  his 
three  campaigns  against  Canada.  Appointed  a  brigadier-general 
early  in  1776  he  served  with  distinction  throughout  the  war,  and 
with  marked  valour  at  Brandywine,  Germantown,  and  Monmouth. 


362  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

them  on  the  other  side.  All  this  by  order  of  Con- 
gress, when  suddenly  the  order  was  rescinded,  and 
the  tories  remain  unmolested." 

Woodbury's  men  were  greatly  disappointed  at 
their  disbanding,  and  Lee  re-enlisted  them  in  a  regi- 
ment under  Colonel  Ward,  making  a  force  of  fifteen 
hundred  men,  with  Sears  as  Assistant  Adjutant-Gen- 
eral. General  Lee  disdained  all  civil  authority  from 
Assemblies  provincial  or  continental,  but  deigned  to 
receive  military  orders  which  accorded  with  his  own 
pre-conceived  plans.  January  21st,  General  Greene 
wrote  to  him :  "  You  are  to  make  an  attack  on  the 
tories  in  Queens  county.  I  hear  you  are  raising 
fifteen  hundred  troops  for  the  expedition.  I  hope 
you  will  give  the  many-headed  monster,  the  tory 
faction,  a  faithful  wound." 

Early  in  the  month,  Washington  had  written  to 
General  Schuyler  complimenting  him  on  his  exploits 
in  Tryon  County,  and  had  added :  "  I  hope  Gen. 
Lee  will  excite  a  work  of  the  same  kind  on  Long 
Island."  Lee's  plans,  however,  came  to  naught,  and 
Washington  wrote  him  on  the  23d  that  he  was 
"  exceedingly  sorry  that  Congress  had  counter- 
manded the  embarkation  of  the  regiment  against  the 
tories  of  Long  Island." 

Through  January,  a  few  petitions  were  sent  to 
Congress  from  faltering  souls  who  now  "  most  hum- 
bly show  that  in  voting  against  Deputies,"  they 
were  led  astray  by  the  "  Artfull  insinuations  of 
Designing  Men,"  but  for  which  conduct  they  are 
"  extreamly  contrite,"  and  the  following  "  Declara- 
tion "  was  submitted  January  19,  1776: 


COLONEL  HEARD'S  ORDERS.  363 

"  Whereas  we  the  subscribers  have  given  great 
uneasiness  to  the  good  people  of  the  neighbouring 
provinces  and  of  the  Continent  in  general  by  not 
choosing  a  Committee  and  not  paying  any  attention 
to  the  directions  of  our  Provincial  Congress  and  by 
opposing  the  General  Instructions  of  the  Continental 
Congress,"  they  promise,  "  hereafter,  in  all  cases, 
implicitly  to  obey  all  orders  enjoined  upon  us  by 
our  Provincial  and  Continental  Congress." 

Here  follow  the  names '  of  about  five  hundred 
men,  nearly  one  half  of  those  who  had  voted  against 
the  election  of  deputies.  The  same  persons  later 
made  oath  that  the  arms  and  ammunition  given 
Colonel  Heard  were  all  which  they  possessed,  and 
that  they  had  not  "  evaded  or  obstructed  the  execu- 
tion of  his  orders  from  the  Continental  Congress  for 
disarming  the  inhabitants  of  Queen's  Co.  who  are 
disaffected  to  the  opposition  now  making  in  America 
to  ministerial  tyranny." 

The  orders  to  Colonel  Heard  to  proceed  against 
the  devoted  Island  still  remained  in  force.  They 
were  directed  against  every  person  who  had  voted 
against  the  election  of  deputies,  with  the  names  of 
twenty-six  leading  men,  the  "  most  odious,"  already 
on  "  The  Black  List,"  who  were  seized  and  impris- 
oned. Colonel  Heard  came  to  New  York  on  the 
27th,  with  seven  hundred  New  Jersey  Militia  and 
three  hundred  regulars  under  Major  De  Hart  of 
Lord  Sterling's  Brigade.  He  crossed  to  Newtown 
and  reached  Jamaica  on  the  30th.  His  work  was 
done  with  the  greatest  rigour.  Houses  were  broken 
'  See  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  858. 


364  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

open  and  pillaged,  farm-yards  plundered,  cattle  wan- 
tonly slaughtered,  soldiers  billeted  upon  the  inhabi- 
tants, all  "  Addressers,"  to  Lord  Howe  as  Commis- 
sioner of  Peace,  and  those  who  had  sent  to  Governor 
Tryon,  since  October  on  board  the  Duchess  of  Gordon, 
off  Jamaica  Bay,  an  expression  of  loyalty,  were 
seized  and  required  to  take  oath  not  to  oppose  the 
army  of  Congress,  nor  to  aid  the  royal  troops.  If 
they  refused  the  oath,  or  to  give  up  their  arms,  they 
were  to  be  imprisoned.  The  special  severity  of  this 
brutal  raid  is  explained  in  the  words  of  Thomas 
Jones,  himself  a  constant  sufferer  for  his  loyalty : 
"  Queens  County  was  extraordinarily  obnoxious  to 
the  rebels  on  account  of  the  loyalty  of  its  inhabitants, 
who  had  constantly,  in  spite  of  all  opposition  and  hard 
usage,  acknowledged  their  attachment  to  their  sover- 
eign, had  refused  to  send  delegates  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  members  to  the  Provincial  Assembly,  or 
to  elect  a  Committee  in  the  County."  " 

Colonel  Heard  expected  resistance  at  Hempstead, 
but  his  force  was  so  large  that  even  Richard  Hewlett 
did  not  venture'  the   effort   to    repel,  or  to   then 

■  Jones's  Hist,  of  New  York  during  the  Revolutiofi,  vol.  i.,  p, 
107. 

°  The  Constitutional  Gazette  of  February  1st  says  :  "On  Tuesday 
last,  700  Jersey  Militia  and  300  Jersey  Regulars  entered  Queen's  Co. 
to  disarm  those  who  opposed  the  cause  of  American  Liberty  and  al- 
though they  have  repeatedly  declared  their  intention  of  defending 
their  arms  at  the  risk  of  their  lives,  yet  such  is  the  badness  of  their 
cause  (which  no  doubt  makes  cowards  of  them)  that  they  were  dis- 
armed without  opposition  and  the  generality  of  them  have  sworn  to 
abide  by  the  measures  of  the  Congress." 

This  was  true  of  but  a  small  proportion  of  these  steadfast  men, 


SUFFERINGS  OF   THE  LOYALISTS.  365 

avenge  the  invasion.  The  Loyalists  fled  from  their 
homes,  seeking  safety  as  best  they  could,  hiding  in 
the  dense  swamps  and  vine-entangled  forests,  in 
barns  and  hollowed  trees,  in  stacks  of  ungarnered 
grain,  and  in  the  long  marsh  grass  of  the  salt 
meadows. 

Two  days  were  spent  at  Jamaica  and  at  Hemp- 
stead, during  which  time  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  names  were  signed  to  the  Declaration  of  January 
19th,  and  three  hundred  firearms  given  up.  The 
conduct  of  the  corps  under  Major  De  Hart  was  so 
outrageous,'  even  in  the  eyes  of  his  superior  officer, 

while  an  old  song  gives  the  popular  estimate  of  the  invading 
force  : 

"  Col.  Heard  has  come  to  town 
A-thinking  for  to  plunder, 
Before  he  'd  done  he  had  to  run, 
He  heard  the  cannon  thunder. 

"  And  when  he  came  to  Hempstead  town 
He  heard  the  cannon  rattle. 
Poor  Col.  Heard  he  ran  away 
And  dared  not  face  the  battle. 

' '  And  now  he 's  gone  to  Oyster  Bay, 
Quick  for  to  cross  the  water. 
He  dare  no  more  in  Hempstead  stay 
For  fear  of  meeting  slaughter." 

'  Major  De  Hart  writes  from  Staten  Island  to  Samuel  Tucker, — 
"I  have  the  happiness  to  inform  you  that  our  men  behaved  with  the 
greatest  degree  of  civility  toward  the  Inhabitants  of  Long-Island. 
Some  little  complaint  happened  about  some  N.  Y.  Volunteers  which 
upon  examination  into  proved  of  very  little  consequence.'' — Am. 
Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  851.  So  much  depends  upon  the 
point  of  view  ! 

A  private  letter  from  Jericho  says  :     "  Colonel  Heard  is  indefati- 


366  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

that  at  Hempstead  the  detachment  was  ordered 
back  to  New  York,  while  Colonel  Heard  continued 
his  march  of  devastation  over  the  wind-swept  plains 
to  Jericho  and  Oyster  Bay. 

As  the  result  of  his  raid,  he  carried  away  nearly  a 
thousand  muskets,"  four  sets  of  colours  belonging  to 
the  Long  Island  Militia,  and  nineteen  of  the  dis- 
affected named  in  The  Black  List."  These  gentlemen 
were  sent  to  Philadelphia,  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, and  after  a  confinement  of  several  weeks  were 
returned  to  the  mercies  of  the  New  York  Assembly. 
In  New  York  they  were  imprisoned  at  their  own 
expense  in  a  wretched  lodging,  while  letters  were 
sent  to  the  various  Town  Committees  to  elicit  evi- 
dence against  them.  So  slight  was  this,  even  to  the 
most   prejudiced  of  their  accusers,  that   they  were 

gable  in  discharging  his  duty  :  he  treats  the  inhabitants  with  civility 
and  utmost  humanity  and  even  the  Delinquents  express  themselves 
well  pleased  that  a  detachment  of  Jersey  men  and  not  of  New  Eng. 
landers  was  sent  to  disarm  them. 

'  These  arms  were  given  to  Colonel  Dayton  of  New  Jersey. — 
Journals  of  Congress,  1776,  p.  91. 

^  Seven,  whose  names  are  in  The  Black  List,  had  left  their  homes 
before  Colonel  Heard's  coming : 

Charles  Arden,  John  Moore,  Sen., 

Richard  Hewlett,  John  Moore,  Jun., 

John  Hewlett,  Thos.  Covnell, 

Jeronimus  Rapalje. 
Joshua  Bloomer,  Rector  of  Grace  Church,  Jamaica,  wrote  to  the 
S.  P.  G.  February  7,  1776,  as  follows :  "  Last  week  a  number  of 
troops  under  orders  of  the  Continental  Congress,  disarmed  this  town- 
ship &  Hempstead  and  carried  off  about  20  of  the  principal  persons 
of  Mr.  Cutting's  and  my  Congregation,  prisoners  to  Philadelphia, 
they  being  accused  of  opposition  to  the  present  measures." — Docu- 
mentary History  of  New  York,  vol.  iii.,  p.  337. 


PRISONERS  SENT   TO  PHILADELPHIA.       367 

finally  discharged,  under  bonds  to  preserve  the 
peace. 

In  the  minutes  of  the  Continental  Congress  is  the 
record  of  their  action  : 

"  Resolved,  that  Capt.  Benj.  Whitehead,  Jos. 
French,  Johannes  Polhemus,  Wm. ,.  Weyman,  John 
Sholes,  Nath'l  Moore,  Capt.  Sam'l  Hewlett,  John 
Willet,  Thos.  Smith,  John  Townsend,  Capt.  Geo. 
Weeks,  Dr.  David  Brooks,  Gabriel  G.  Ludlow,  Capt. 
Chas.  Hicks,  Doctor  Martin,  Sam'l  Clowes,  Gilbert 
Van  Wick,  Dan' I  Kissam,  and  Capt.  Jacob  Mott,  be 
sent  to  New  York  and  delivered  to  the  order  of  the 
Convention  of  that  Colony  who  are  requested  to 
confine  or  secure  the  said  persons  until  an  inquiry 
be  had  by  the  Convention  into  their  conduct  and  a 
report  thereof  be  made  to  this  Congress. 

"  Col.  Heard  earnestly  requested  that  the  Com- 
mittee of  Safety,  as  the  Provincial  Congress  is  not 
convened,  give  orders  as  to  the  Prisoners  in  his 
charge,  so  that  he  may  be  discharged  of  the  care  of 
those  Prisoners. 

"  It  was  ordered  that  the  above  Prisoners,  except 
Gabriel  G.  Ludlow,  Samuel  Clowes  and  Geo.  Weeks 
who  are  not  in  custody,  be  placed  in  any  one  house 
in  the  city,  all  together,  at  their  own  expense,  and 
that  they  be  confined  there  under  guard  at  their  own 
.expense  until  the  Orders  of  the  Provincial  Congress 
in  the  premises."  Colonel  Heard  is  then  compli- 
mented for  his  "  care  &  prudence  &  execution  of  his 
duty  like  an  officer."  ' 

The  prisoners  soon  petitioned  for  release.  It  was 
'  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  nog. 


368  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

then  ordered  that  they  be  set  free  on  giving  bonds' 
for  their  "  appearance  before  this,  or  any  future 
Congress  or  Committee  of  Safety,  and  that  they 
will  hereafter  deport  themselves  peaceably  and 
make  no  opposition  to  the  measures  of  this,  or 
of  the  Continental  Congress,  nor  instigate  others 
thereunto." 

Queens  County  continued  to  be  the  object  of  the 
bitterest  hatred  of  those  in  authority.  Not  long 
after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  a  new  indig- 
nity was  forced  upon  Hempstead.  "  It  was  the 
object  of  Congress,"  says  Thomas  Jones,  "to appre- 
hend the  principal  gentlemen  and  transport  them  to 
Connecticut  to  dragoon  and  compel  the  common 
people  to  form  a  militia  and  join  the  rebel  army." 
For  this  end,  a  body  of  a  thousand  men  from  Rhode 
Island  under  Colonel  Cornell  were  ordered  by  Wash- 
ington to  establish  themselves  at  Hempstead  and 
hold  in  terror  the  surrounding  country.  These 
troops  were  joined  by  three  hundred  Queens  County 
men  in  sympathy  with  them,  under  whose  guidance 
scouting  parties  were  continually  sent  out  in  pursuit 
of  the  Loyalists.  The  scenes  attendant  upon  Heard's 
raid  were  repeated  and  intensified.  The  Loyalists 
were  relentlessly  hunted  down  by  this  later  Claver- 
house  and  many  prisoners  taken.  These  were 
haled  before  a  board  consisting  of  Lord  Sterlingi 

'  The  obligation  taken  was  as  follows  : 

"  Know  all  men  by  these  presents,  that  we of  Queens  Co. 

on  Nassau  Island  in  the  Province  of  New    York,  are  held  of  and 

firmly  bound  into in  the  sum  of  ;£'5oo,  lawful  money  of 

New  York,  to  appear  within  six  days  after  summoning  before  any 
Provincial  Congress,  or  Committee  of  Safety." — Ibid.,  p.  270. 


PRECA  UTIONS  IN  JAMAICA.  369 

John  Morin  Scott,  Alexander  McDougal,  and  Ad- 
jutant-General Joseph  Reade,  and,  unheard,  were 
sentenced  to  transportation  to  Connecticut,  where 
as  prisoners  at  Simsbury,'  or  on  limited  parole,  they 
werfe  long  detained  from  their  homes. 

In  May,  the  Committee  of  Safety  at  Jamaica  re- 
solved that  "  No  person  be  permitted  to  move  into 
this  Township  unless  he  produce  Certificate  from  the 
Committee  where  he  has  resided,  that  he  has  been 
in  all  things  a  friend  to  the  cause  of  American  free- 
dom, and  whereas  sundry  persons  in  passing  through 
the  town  have  given  just  cause  for  suspicion  that 
they  were  employed  in  aiding  &  assisting  the  un- 
natural enemies  of  America,  therefore  it  is  ordered 
that  all  such  persons  be  taken  up  for  examination." 

During  these  eventful  months,  the  people  of  the 
Eastern  Towns  had  little  hesitation  over  their  course. 
The  Governor  and  Council  at  New  York  had  never 
received  but  slight  recognition,  and  the  allegiance 
to  their  more  distant  sovereign  was  in  words  rather 
than  in  fact.  In  a  meeting  held  at  Easthampton, 
June  17,  177s,  the  people  pledged  themselves  to 
support  the  "  Continental  "  cause.     A  Committee 

'  The  Simsbury  Copper  Mines  on  Copper  Hill,  East  Granby,  then 
in  the  town  of  Simsbury,  were  first  opened  in  1705,  and  worked  at 
intervals.  They  were  abandoned  after  half  a  century  of  indifferent 
success,  and  in  1773  Connecticut  spent  seventy  pounds  in  fitting  them 
up  as  "  a  public  gaol  and  workhouse  for  the  Colony.''  A  main  shaft 
went  down  a  hundred  feet,  where  a  trap-door  opened  into  "  Hell," 
a  gallery  on  which  were  the  prisoners'  cells,  and  leading  to  the  "  Bot- 
tomless Pit."  Johnston  says  :  "  Probably  not  more  than  thirty 
tories  at  a  time  were  ever  confined  there,"  but  contemporary  records 
make  the  inmates  of  this  "  vvoful  mansion"  many  more,  See  He. 
membrancer,  vol.  xii.,  p.  119, 


370  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

of  Correspondence  was  chosen,  and  the  Articles  of 
Association  sent  by  the  Continental  Congress  were 
approved  and  signed.  Their  example  was  followed 
by  the  other  eastern  townships.  These  committees 
were  empowered  to  choose  delegates  to  the  'Pro- 
vincial Congress,  and  "  to  do  all  that  should  be 
necessary  in  defence  of  our  just  rights  and  liberties 
against  the  unconstitutional  acts  of  the  British  Min- 
istry and  Parliament." 

The  sentiment  of  the  East  and  West  was  every- 
where distinctly  understood.  Captain  Bauermeister, 
a  Hessian  ofificer  "  In  Camp  at  Helgatte,"  just  before 
the  Battle  of  Brooklyn,  writes  :  "  The  Inhabitants 
of  Long  Island  recognise  the  Royal  Authority 
except  in  the  County  of  Suffolk,  where  several  thou- 
sands rebels  still  remain,  not  collected  together,  but 
scattered,  ready  to  fight  at  the  first  opportunity." 
Yet  Suffolk  was  not  altogether  disloyal.  Gilbert 
Potter  had  written  from  Huntington  to  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress,  in  December,  1775,  asking  that  "  a 
sufficient  number  of  men  be  immediately  sent  to 
effectually  subdue  Queens  Co.  and  to  intimidate 
the  people  amongst  us,  or  a  great  many  here  would 
soon  be  no  better  ruffle  than  the  tories  of  Queens 
County." 

A  letter  from  William  Smith  to  the  Honourable, 
the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York,  dated  Suffolk 
County,  January  24,  1776,  says:  "  The  great  expos- 
edness  of  the  East  end  and  the  extensiveness  of  the 
county,  induces  us  to  desire  that  such  number  of 
Continental  troops  may  be  stationed  here  as  the 
Congress   in   their  wisdom   shall   judge   necessary. 


A   POST-RIDER  DESIRED.  37 1 

We  make  no  doubt  the  Continent  proposes  to  pro- 
tect and  defend  this  Island  and  we  hope  you  will 
use  your  endeavour  that  a  sufficient  force  be  posted 
here  for  that  purpose."  ' 

The  next  week,  the  Committee  of  Safety  for  East- 
hampton,  Southampton,  and  Shelter  Island,  con- 
vened at  Sag  Harbor,  beg  the  Congress  "  to  defend 
them  from  British  attacks  and  ministerial  ven- 
geance." They  further  desire  that  "  some  method 
be  fallen  upon  to  establish  a  Post  from  New  York 
to  the  East  end  of  the  Island,  that  we  may  be 
favoured  with  the  earliest  intelligence."  " 

Associators  were  organised  into  militia,  and  the 
Provincial  Congress  ordered  that  "  forces  be  sta- 
tioned to  prevent  depredations  on  Long  Island,  and 
to  promote  the  safety  of  the  whole." '  But  the  de- 
feat of  Washington's  army  in  the  Battle  of  Brooklyn 
worked  some  change  in  sentiment.  A  fortnight 
after  that  disastrous  event,  Colonel  Henry  Living- 
ston writes  from  Saybrook  to  the  Commander-in- 
chief  :  "  Before  I  left  Long-Island,  the  towns  of 
Easthampton  and  Southampton  had  sent  for  their 
pardons  to  Lord  Howe.  Since  I  left  it,  they  have 
almost  universally  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
his  Britannick    Majesty,   tendered    them    by   Col. 

'  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  1108. 

'  It  was  thereupon  "  ordered  that  Mr.  L'Hommedieu  call  upon  Mr. 
Hazard,  the  Postmaster,  and  endeavour  to  ascertain  what  Revenue 
will  arise  from  a  Post-rider  on  Nassau-Island,  and  what  will  be  the 
expense  to  the  Publick  of  such  Post-rider.'' 

°  On  August  29th,  the  town  of  Southold  submitted  to  the  Congress, 
through  Robert  Hempstead,  Clark,  a  bill  of  £1^  i-js.  Sd.,  for 
' '  mounting  4  cannon  as  field-pieces  for  the  protection  of  the  East 
end  of  Long-Island." 


372  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Gardiner.  ...  I  propose  sailing  from  this  place 
for  Huntington  to-morrow  with  about  1120  troops 
and  hope  to  have  an  opportunity  of  being  useful.  I 
believe  if  10,000  men  were  sent  upon  the  East  end 
of  Long  Island,  they  would  give  a  very  unexpected 
turn  to  affairs."  ' 

Events  crowded  in  these  pivotal  days.  Even 
before  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  attention  was  cen- 
tring on  New  York.  There,  was  to  be  the  great 
stand  in  the  conflict  now  imminent.  Long  Island 
was  strategic  ground,  and  for  either  party  it  was  un- 
equalled as  a  base  of  supplies."  A  letter  to  Lord 
Howe  recommends  Nassau  as  "  the  only  spot  in 
America  for  carrying  on  the  war  with  efificacy  against 
the  rebels.  In  this  fertile  Island  the  army  could  sub- 
sist without  any  succour  from  England  or  Ireland. 
It  has  a  plain  on  it  twenty-four  miles  long,  which 
has  a  fertile  country  about  it.  Forming  their  camp 
on  the  above  plain,  they  could  in  five  or  six  days 
invade  and  reduce  any  of  the  Colonies  at  pleasure." 
The  editor  of  The  Gentleman' s  Magazine,  in  which 
the  letter  is  published,'  asks,  "  What  can  then  retard 
the  conquest  of  America?  " 

'  Am.  Archives,  series  v.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  2(j6.  For  a  census  of  Suffolk 
at  this  time,  giving  heads  of  families,  see  ibid.,  series  iv.,  vol.  iv., 
pp.  1236-52. 

'  Lee,  who  reached  New  York  early  in  February  with  seventeen 
hundred  men,  wrote  Washington  on  the  igth :  "  I  wait  for  force  to 
prepare  a  post  in  Long  Island  for  three  thousand  men.  I  think  this 
a  capital  object,  for  should  the  enemy  take  possession  of  New  York, 
while  Long  Island  is  in  our  hands,  they  would  find  it  almost  impos- 
sible to  subsist." 

'  The  Gentleman' s  Magazine,  vol.  xlvi.,  p.  234.  See  also  Howe's 
Letter  from  Camp  at  Newtown,  pp.  476-8. 


WASHINGTON  EXCEEDS  HIS  AUTHORITY.      373 

It  was  a  time  of  anxious  suspense  for  the  thought- 
ful and  far-seeing  an:iong  the  people  of  Long  Island. 
A  presentiment  of  the  fate  of  this  much  harried 
land  hung  darkly  over  its  once  cheerful  plains.  The 
Continental  Congress  in  February  recommended  the 
Provincial  Government  to  "  seize  upon  the  more 
troublesome  and  dangerous  of  the  tories,"  and  to 
call  to  their  aid  the  Continental  troops.  Colonel 
Ward  was  then  in  Brooklyn,  beginning  the  fortifica- 
tion of  the  Heights,'  his  soldiers  quartered  in  out-ly- 
ing farm-houses.  General  Washington,  on  his  arrival 
in  New  York,  ordered  him  "  to  secure  the  whole  body 
of  Tories  on  Long  Island."  This  gave  the  most 
widespread  alarm,  and  even  the  Congress  of  New 
York  endeavoured  to  check  the  Commander-in-chief 
by  teUing  him  that  the  "  trial  and  punishment  of 
citizens  belonged  to  the  Congress  and  not  to  any 
military  character  however  exalted."  To  this  he 
replied  that  "  when  the  enemy  was  at  the  door, 
form  must  be  dispensed  with."  His  duty  to  the 
Continental  Congress  and  to  his  own  conscience  had 
dictated  the  measure  :  "  I  should  be  in  the  highest 
degree  culpable  should  I  suffer,  at  so  dangerous  a 
crisis,  a  banditti  of  professed  foes  of  Liberty  and 
their  country  to  remain  at  liberty." 

Colonel  Ward  was  aided  by  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Isaac  Sears,  whose  over-zeal  outran  even  the  relent- 

•  "  Prov.  Cong.  Die  Martes,  10  ho.  a.m.  Feb.  6. 

"It  is  ordered  that  Such  entrenched  encampment  be  made  on 
Nassau  Island  and  at  such  place  or  places  on  the  Island  as  Major- 
General  Lee  or  such  other  Continental  officer  as  shall  command  at 
New  York  shall  think  necessary." — Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol. 
iv.,  p.  1 109. 


374  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

less  spirit  of  his  superior  officers.  He  devised  a  new 
form  of  test  oath,  which,  he  exultingly  declared, 
"  they  swallowed  as  hard  as  a  four-pound  shot.'  A 
refusal  to  take  this  oath  was  regarded  as  an  avowal 
of  hostility,  on  which  the  delinquents  were  to  be  ar- 
rested and  sent  into  Connecticut,  where  in  the  drip- 
ping dungeons  of  the  Simsbury  Mines  it  was  deemed 
they  would  be  less  dangerous  to  their  country. 

The  Whig  hatred  was  concentrated  on  the  worthy 
Cadwallader  Colden,  on  John  Rapalje  of  Brooklyn, 
and  especially  on  Richard  Hewlett  of  Hemsptead," 

'  Sears  writes  from  Jamaica  to  General  Lee,  March  I7tli :  "  Yes- 
terday I  arrived  at  Newtown  and  tendered  the  oath  to  4  of  the 
grate  Torries  which  they  swallowed  as  hard  as  a  4-lb  shot  that  they 
were  trying  to  git  down.  On  this  day,  I  came  here  at  1 1  o'clock  when 
I  sent  out  scouting  parties  and  have  been  able  to  ketch  but  5  Torries 
and  they  of  the  first  rank  which  swallowed  the  oath.  The  houses 
are  so  scattered  that  it  is  impossible  to  ketch  many  without  hosses  to 
ride  after  them  ;  but  I  shall  exert  myself  to  ketch  the  greater  part  of 
the  ring-ledors  &  believe  I  shall  effect  it,  but  not  in  less  than  5  days 
from  this  time.  I  can  assure  your  Honour  that  there  are  a  set  of 
villins  in  this  Co.  [I]  beleve  the  better  part  are  waiting  for  soport, 
and  intend  to  take  up  arms  against  us,  and  it  is  my  opinion  that  noth- 
ng  else  will  do  but  to  remove  the  ring-ledors  to  a  place  of  secureity. 
' '  From  your  most  ob'd  Humble  Surv' 

"  Isaac  Sears." 
Am.  Archives^  series  v.,  vol.  v.,  p.  105. 

"^  Richard  Hewlett,  of  the  South  Side  Hewletts,  a  descendant  of 
"  Hulett  of  Buckinghamshire,"  was  trained  to  arms  in  the  "  Old 
French  and  Indian  War,"  and  the  earlier  King  George's  War.  He 
was  an  ardent  and  a  most  active  Loyalist.  He  defended  Setauket 
against  a  raid  from  Connecticut,  and  in  1778,  in  command  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty  Loyalists  from  the  West,  pillaged  Southold.  In 
1781,  he  was  retired  on  half-pay.  He  was  one  of  the  grantees  of 
Saint  John  and  the  first  surveyor  of  the  city.  He  died  in  Gagetown 
in  1789,  aged  seventy-seven. 


THE  HUNTS D  LOYALISTS.  375 

the  most  valiant  leader  of  the  loj^al  party.  Lee  had 
given  orders  to  "  seize  him  at  all  Hazards.  Richard 
Hewlett  is  to  have  no  conditions  offered  him,  but  to 
be  secured  without  ceremony." 

Lee's  men  in  ample  force  were  sent  out  from 
Newtown,  from  Flushing,  and  from  Jamaica.  There 
was  no  safety  even  for  those  who  had  taken  the 
oath.  The  Loyalists  concealed  themselves  as  best 
they  could.  Many  spent  the  winter  in  the  dense 
thickets  of  undergrowth  in  every  forest.  There, 
they  held  their  midnight  rendezvous  ;  thence,  they 
stole  secretly  on  moonless  nights  to  visit  their 
homes,  too  often  pillaged  and  bare.  In  July,  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Benjamin  Birdsall  writes  from  South 
Oyster  Bay  to  Colonel  Sands,  that,  "  Thirty  or  forty 
Tories  are  in  Massapequa  Swamp  and  he  is  about  to 
take  four  hundred  men  to  ferret  them  out."  Con- 
gress endeavoured  to  establish  a  patrol  over  Queens 
County.  May  1st,  the  Committee  of  Safety  ordered 
an  enrolment  of  the  entire  Island.'  Loyalists  (who 
had  been  already  disarmed)  were  heavily  fined  for 
not  appearing  at  the  military  musters,  properly 
equipped.  Their  property  was  seized  and  sold  at 
auction,  or  appropriated  to  public  uses,  while  the 
absentees,  absent  from  whatever  cause,  were  pub- 
lished as  enemies  of  their  country.  Neutrality  was 
no  longer  safe.  Armed  bodies  of  Whigs  continually 
broke  into  the  houses  of   peaceable  men,  forcing 

'  There  was  reported  as  fit  for  military  service,  from 

Kings  County,    580  men  ;  the  quota  drawn,    58. 
Queens     "         177°    "       "       "  "        75- 

Suffolk     "        2000    "       "       "  "      200. 


376  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

them  into  the  army,  or  haling  them  to  loathsome 
jails  where  the  severity  of  their  treatment  was  the 
forerunner  of  the  equal  atrocities  inflicted  upon  the 
victims  of  the  Sugar  House,  the  Provost,  and  the 
Prison  ships.  When  the  Provincial  Congress  re- 
monstrated with  General  Lee  for  his  illegal  arrest  of 
Mr.  Gale,  taken  to  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  he  ad- 
mitted that  he  had  gone  beyond  his  authority,  but 
pleaded  that  "  irregular  as  it  was,  I  had  the  assurance 
that  he  was  a  most  dangerous  man  and  should  not 
be  suffered  to  remain  on  Long  Island  where  an 
enemy  is  more  dangerous  than  on  any  other  spot  in 
America."  General  Lee  fretted  against  what  he 
thought  the  too  moderate  measures  of  the  Congress, 
and  declared  the  bonds  given  for  good  behaviour, 
"  answer  no  purpose  but  to  render  'em  more  bitter 
and  virulent.  The  first  regiment  of  our  Gracious 
Sovereign's  Cut-throats  which  arrive  here,  will  indu- 
bitably cancel  their  bonds." ' 

Lord  Sterling  was  appointed  to  his  command  in 
March,  and  as  Lee  was  setting  out  for  his  post  in 
the  South,  he  again  expressed,  in  a  letter  to  Wash- 
ington," his  estimate  of  these  bonds,  and  urges  the 

'  Lee  wrote  to  General  Reade  on  February  28th,  blaming  Congress 
that  "  the  Tories  on  Long  Island  are  set  at  liberty  on  giving  bonds 
for  good  behaviour,  which  would  be  prodigiously  obligatory  when  a 
few  regiments  &  ships  of  war  appear  to  encourage  them  to  act  up  to 
the  loyal  principles  they  have  professed.  This  measure  must  &  ought 
to  be  considered  an  act  of  absolute  idiotism  as  reconciliation  & 
reunion  with  Great  Britain  is  now  as  much  a  chimeraas  incorpora- 
ting with  the  people  of  Tibet." 

*  Lee  writes  :  "  I  think  it  my  duty  to  observe  that  all  these  measures 
will  be  totally  fruitless  unless  precautions  are  taken  with  reference  to 


THE  HICKEY  PLOT.  377 

defence  of  New  York.  In  the  meantime  orders 
came  fast  from  the  Assembly  which  directed  the 
affairs  of  the  revolting  colony,  with  intent  to  compel 
the  co-operation  of  Long  Island.  Armed  sloops 
were  sent  to  cruise  along  the  southern  shore,  but 
always  with  "  some  inlet  under  the  lie  to  secure  a 
Retreate  from  a  Supearior  force." 

Continued  attacks  were  directed  against  the  loyal, 
or  those  inactive  against  the  Home  Government. 
In  May,  were  rumours  of  a  dire  conspiracy  among 
the  Loyalists,  called  "a  plot  as  deep  as  Hell  to  bring 
the  country  to  ruin."  One  John  Hendrickson  was 
arrested  by  the  Congress.  His  long  examination 
before  that  body  educed  no  evidence  against  him, 
but  showed  very  plainly  the  excited  state  of  Queens 
County.  That  "  the  people  of  Hempstead  have 
been  in  high  spirits  of  late,"  was  perhaps  the  most 
ominous  fact  revealed.  Peter  Curtenius,  the  Com- 
missioner General  of  the  New  York  Line,  calls  the 
suspected  design  "  a  most  infernal  plot,  against  the 
lives  of  Gen's  Washington  &  Putnam  "  ;  and  Solo- 
mon Drown  wrote  of  it :  "  It  would  have  been  as 
fatal  a  stroke  to  us  as  the  gun-powder  Treason  to 
England.     The  hellish  conspirators  were  a  number 

the  professed  enemies  of  American  Liberty,  seated  in  the  very  spots 
where  they  can  do  the  most  mischief.  Queen's  Co.  and  Staten 
Islands.  The  bonds  they  have  given  are  too  ridiculous  to  be  men- 
tioned. The  Association  they  have  signed,  they  consider  forced 
upon  them,  and  consequently  null.  I  do  not  consider  the  disarming 
the  tories  would  incapacitate  them  from  acting  against  us.  I  should 
therefore  think  it  prudent  to  secure  their  children  as  hostages.  If  a 
measure  of  this  kind  is  not  adopted,  the  children's  children  of 
America  will  rue  the  fatal  omission." 


378  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

of  Tories,  the  Mayor  of  the  City'  among  them,  and 
three  of  Gen.  Washington's  life-guards."  °  These 
utterances  show  the  inflammable  feelings  on  either 
side.  Public  sentiment  was  the  tinder  which  any 
spark  of  suspicion  set  ablaze.  Some  probability 
there  was  of  a  plot  concealed  on  board  the  Asia,  but 
its  design  and  details  were  never  known,  and  it  was 
not  supposed  to  extend  beyond  Queens  County. 
Ninety-eight  persons  were  accused  of  implication 
therein,  the  list  being  headed  by  that  arch-traitor, 
as  he  was  deemed  by  the  Whigs,  the  French-and- 
Indian  fighter,  Richard  Hewlett. 

This  alarm  precipitated  the  action  of  the  Congres- 
sional Committee  for  Queens  County.  On  May  2ist, 
Washington  wrote  to  Putnam  :  "  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  the  Provincial  Congress  of  this  Colony 
has  in  contemplation  a  scheme  for  seizing  the  prin- 
cipal tories  and  disaffected  persons  on  Long  Island, 
in  this  city  and  the  country  round  about,  and  that 
to  carry  the  scheme  into  execution  they  will  be 
obliged  to  have  recourse  to  military  power  for  assist- 
ance. If  this  should  be  the  case,  you  are  hereby 
required  during  my  absence  to  offer  every  aid  which 
the  said  Congress  shall  require."  ° 

On  June  5th,  Congress  passed  resolutions  against 

'  Major  Matthews,  living  at  Flatbush,  the  successor  of  Whitehead 
Hicks.  The  evidence  against  him  was  his  communication  with 
Governor  Tryon,  on  the  Asia,  and  carrying  moneys  from  him  to 
certain  gunsmiths  in  the  city. 

*  One  of  these,  a  private,  Thomas  Hickey,  was  tried  by  Court- 
Martial,  and  hanged,  June  28th.  For  the  trial,  see  Am.  Archives, 
series  iv.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  1084. 

^  See  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  534. 


SEIZURE  OF  DISAFFECTED  PERSONS.        379 

suspected  and  dangerous  persons  in  Queens  County, 
which  were  carried  out  ten  days  later,  Gouverneur 
Morris  drafting  the  warrant  issued  against  them.' 

At  the  same  time  the  supervision  of  the  entire 
Island  became  more  strict,  and  all  orders  more 
stringent.  When  the  Long  Island  Regiments  were 
ordered  to  join  the  Continental  Army,  scarcely  a 
half  the  number  enrolled  could  then  be  mustered. 
The  drafted  men  had  escaped,  and  were  hidden 
in  the  Brush  Plains,  the  swamps,  and  salt-water 
marshes.     Colonel  Marinus  Willet  was  sent  against 

'  For  Resolutions,  see  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  1152. 
The  persons  to  be  arrested  were  the  following  : 

' '  First  List. 

Richard  Hewlet,  Rockaway  D.  Beatty,  Hempstead 

Thos.  Cornell  ' '  John  Boden 

Step.  Hulet  Chase,  Jamaica 

Dr.  Chas.  Arden  Jno.  Hulet,  Oyster  Bay 

J.  Beagle  Israel     Denton,     of     Near 
J.  Moore,  .Sen  Roclcaway 

John  Kendal,  at  Dan'l  Thom's,  Flushing. 

Second  List. 

Gabriel  Ludlow  David  Brooks 

Dr.  Sam'l  Martin  Chas.  Hicks 

Thos.  Jones  John  Townsend 

Archibald  Hamilton  Benj.  Whitehead 

David  Colden  Thos.  Smith 

Richard  Colden  John  Polhemus 

Geo.  Duncan  Ludlow  John  Sholes 

Whitehead  Hicks  Nath'l  Moore 

Sam'l  Clowes  Sam'l  Hallet 

Geo.  Foliot  Wm.  Weyman 

Sam'l  Doughty  Qapt.  Thos.  Hicks,  Rockaway 

D.  Kissam  Benj.  Lester,  Hempstead 

Gilbert  Van  Wyck  J.  Willet." 


380  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

a  party  of  eighteen  who  were  secreted  in  a  wood 
near  Jamaica.  With  his  greatly  superior  force,  he 
stormed  the  hillock  where  they  were  concealed  by  a 
sheltering  screen  of  green-briar,  and  using  the  tactics 
of  the  Indian  warfare  in  which  he  had  won  an 
honourable  name,  he  forced  their  surrender. 

On  June  20th,  the  Provincial  Congress  occupied 
itself  in  recording  information  against  the  Queens 
County  men  arraigned  as  "  Enemies  to  America." 
On  the  22d,  a  Committee  met  at  Scott's  Tavern  in 
Wall  Street,  and  proceeded  to  a  minute  examination 
of  Whitehead  Hicks,"  to  "  show  cause  why  he 
should  be  considered  a  friend  to  the  Cause  and 
Rights  of  America."  Mr.  Hicks's  reply  is  a  good 
expression  of  the  position  held  by  many  of  the  best 
men  of  that  time :  "  The  cause  he  can  show  is  only 
negative :  he  defies  Envy  itself  to  show  anything  in 
his  conduct  that  is  against  his  Country ;  that  he  has 
for  many  years,  unsolicited,  held  honourable  and 
lucrative  Crown  offices,  and  has  repeatedly  sworn 
allegiance  to  the  Crown  and  in  this  situation  would 
not  willingly,  personally  take  up  arms  on  the  part 
of  the  country ;  that  his  father  and  brothers  are 
strongly  attached  to  and  engaged  in  the  American 
cause ;  that  he,  therefore,  as  well  as  from  principle, 
will  never  be  induced  to  take  up  arms  against  his 
country."  When  asked,  if  he  thought  the  present 
measures  of  the  Colony  in  defence  by  arms  justi- 
fiable, he  replied  that  "  Arms  were  the  last  resort, 
and  justifiable  only  when  necessary  as  a  last  re- 
sort." 

'  See  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  1159. 


DEVASTATION  OF  QUEENS  COUNTY.         38 1 

In  the  session  of  the  Queens  County  Committee, 
June  24th: 

"A  motion  was  made  that  all  persons  under  re- 
cognisance to  the  Congress,  taken  by  Colonel  Heard, 
be  sent  for  by  the  Congress  and  more  safely  secured, 
and  that  application  be  made  to  the  Congress  for 
that  purpose.     Passed  in  the  Aff. 

"  A  motion  was  made  that  500  Provincial  or  Con- 
tinental troops  be  immediately  sent  into  Hempstead 
to  put  the  resolves  of  Congress  and  of  this  Com- 
mittee into  execution  and  to  be  billeted  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  ofificers  of  the  2d  Regiment  of  Queens 
County  upon  the  disaffected  and  deserted  persons 
until  the  same  be  put  into  execution.  Passed  in 
the  Aff. 

"  Likewise  ordered,  that  application  be  made  to 
the  Provincial  Congress  to  prescribe  some  mode  to 
secure  all  disaffected  and  dangerous  persons,  as  well 
above  fifty  as  under,  in  Queens  County. 

"  Joseph  Robinson."  ' 

Queens  County  was  plundered  of  cattle  and  of 
ripening  grain.  Jeronimus  Remsen  writes  to  Colo- 
nel John  Sands  on  July  3d :  "I  have  this  day 
waited  on  his  Excellency,  Gen.  Washington,  in  refer- 
ence to  removing  the  cattle,  horses  &  sheep  on  the 
South  side  of  Queen's  Co.  according  to  resolution  of 
Congress.  He  declares  that  in  case  the  tories  made 
any  resistance  he  would  send  men  with  orders  to 
shoot  all  the  creatures,  and  also  all  who  hindered 
the  execution   of  the  said  resolve."     A  few  days 

•  See  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  1055. 


382  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

later,  Benjamin  Kissam  ventured  to  intercede  with 
the  President  of  Congress :  "  There  are  in  Queens 
County  not  less  than  7000  horned  cattle,  7000  sheep 
&  7000  horses  which  cannot  possibly  live  on  the 
Brushy  Plains  where  they  would  be  entirely  desti- 
tute of  water  &  having  other  very  scanty  means  of 
subsistence."  He  pleaded  the  distress  which  the 
execution  of  the  order  would  cause,  as  "  without 
the  cattle  the  people  cannot  gather  the  present  har- 
vest nor  prepare  for  another."  He  thinks  that  if 
allowed  to  retain  them,  the  farmers  will  pledge 
themselves  "  to  secure  the  cattle  in  case  of  immedi- 
ate danger,"- — danger  of  their  affording  sustenance 
to  the  British  forces. 

About  this  time  Gouverneur  Morris  wrote  to 
Washington  in  regard  to  the  "  great  number  of  per- 
sons from  Queen's  Co.  now  confined  in  our  jails," 
of  the  "  inconvenience  "  of  crowding  them,  as  well 
as  the  mistake  of  "  filling  their  minds  with  the  sour- 
ness of  opposition  &  at  the  same  time  souring  and 
enraging  all  their  connections  and  giving  a  just 
alarm  to  every  person  suspected  of  holding  similar 
principles,  &  raise  up  numerous  enemies  actuated  by 
revenge  and  despair,"  while,  "  if  security  be  taken 
for  their  peaceable  demeanour,"  Congress  will  "  risk 
much  from  their  correspondence  with  the  enemy 
which  it  would  be  difficult  to  prevent."  ' 

Jealousies  in  the  service  were  not  the  least  of  the 

difficulties  with  which  the  Provincial  Congress  had 

to  contend.     The  Mounted  Militia  protested  against 

their  enrolment  with  the  "Common  Militia,"  they 

'  See  Am.  Archives,  series  v.,  vol,  i.,  p.  334. 


PJilSONEJiS  SENT   TO   CONNECTICUT.         383 

having  been  at  much  expense  to  equip  themselves 
as  troopers.  Informers  barter  for  office,  and  personal 
pique  often  determines  the  side  taken  in  the  mo- 
mentous issues  of  the  hour. 

August  loth,  the  New  York  Convention,'  having 
information  that  Kings  County  had  determined  not 
to  oppose  the  landing  of  the  British  Army,  then 
anchored  in  the  Bay,  a  Committee'  was  appointed 
to  go  there,  to  secure  the  disaffected,  to  remove  the 
grain,  and,  "if  necessary,"  to  lay  waste  the  whole 
country. 

Early  in  August,  Thomas  Jones,  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  Province,  and  about  twenty 
others,'  were  arrested  by  Washington's   order,  and 

'  The  body  which  met  in  the  morning  of  July  9,  1776,  as  "  the 
Provincial  Congress  of  the  Province  of  New  York,"  became  in  the 
afternoon,  after  the  reading  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  re- 
ceived from  Philadelphia,  the  ' '  Convention  of  the  Representatives  of 
the  State  of  New  York." 

^  The  members  of  the  Committee  were  William  Duer,  Colonel 
Remsen,  Colonel  DeWitt,  and  Mr.  Hobart. 

'  "  Long  Island  Prisoners  sent  to  Norwich,  Conn.  (New  London), 
Aug.  II,  1776 : 

Judge  Jones  Adam  Seabury 

D'l  Kissam,  Jr.  Chas.  NicoU 

Aug.  Van  Home  Josp.  Griswold 

Wm.  Thome .  John  Chave 

David  Brooks  Dv'd  Beatty 

Arch'd  Hamilton  Benj.  Hewlett 

John  Willett  Chas,  Hicks 

John  Rapalje  Isaac  Smith 

Whitehead  Cornell. 
Jedediah  Huntington  writes  to  Governor  Trumbull,  August  11  : 
"  Judge  Jones  being  taken  up  and  ordered  to  Connecticut  has  ap- 
plied to  me  for  letters  to  my  friends,     I  am  a  stranger  to  his  political 


384  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

taken  to  Connecticut.  There  they  remained  under 
parole  until  December  9th.  At  the  same  time  Gen- 
eral Greene,  in  camp  on  Brooklyn  Heights,  had  sent 
to  the  Commander-in-chief  a  "List  of  Tories,"' 
containing  several  names  previously  reported.  The 
centring  of  the  British  fleets  in  and  about  New 
York  Bay  had  occasioned  an  alarm  which  found  ex- 
pression in  these  and  similar  acts  against  those  who 
represented  the  best  worth  of  the  island.  The  crisis 
of  battle  drew  near. 

character  except  that  he  has  lately  held  a  place  under  the  crown  of 
England.     His  character  as  a  gentleman  is  unexceptionable." 

Washington  writes  to  Trumbull  the  same  day  :     "  Judge  Jones  ex- 
pects to  be  permitted  to  stay  at  New  Haven.     Unless   particular 
circumstances   require  it,  these   prisoners  should  be  removed  from 
seaport  &  post-towns." — Am.  Archives,  series  v.,  vol.  i.,  p.  8g8. 
'Hugh  Wallace  Jas.  Griswold  at  the  Plains 

Alexander  Wallace  Justice  Isaac  Smith 

Dr.  Atden  Wm.  Thome,  Great  Neck 

Mr.  Bethun  *  Justice  Kissam 

Nath'l  Mills  Benj.  Hewlett 

Jos.  French  Rich.  Townaend 

Capt.  Benj.  Whitehead  Justice  Clowes  * 

Richard  Betts  Dr.  Beatty 

John  Troup  Dr.  Seabury 

Van  Brunt,  at  the  Mill  Geo.  Hewlett,  Hempstead 

Rob't  Ross  Waddle  Stephen  Hewlett 

Thos.  Willett,  Esq.  J.  Miller 

Sheriff  of  Flushing  James  Coggeshall 

Edward  Willett  Richard  Hewlett,  Rockaway 

David  Golden  Dr.  Martin 

Charles  Willett  Chas.  Hicks 

Judge  Willett  Whitehead  Cornell 

Joseph  Field  Justice  John  Hewlett 

East  Woods. 
*  Should  be  secured. 


XVI. 

THE  BATTLE   OF  BROOKLYN. 

FOR  some  months  efforts  had  been  making  for 
the  fortification  of  the  Harbour  against  the 
expected  British  fleets.  As  many  rafts,  gun- 
boats, and  floating  batteries  as  could  be  obtained 
were  collected.  A  chevaux  de  frise  obstructed  the 
main  channel  south  of  the  Battery.  A  small  body 
of  Connecticut  troops  were  on  Governor's  Island 
and  at  Paulus  Hook. 

The  fortifying  of  Brooklyn  had  been  in  progress 
since  early  spring.  In  March,  Lord  Sterling  had 
ordered  all  the  male  inhabitants  to  work  upon  the 
intrenchments.  A  line  of  earthworks  on  which  were 
four  forts  was  thrown  up  from  the  head  of  Gowanus 
Creek  to  the  Wallabout,'  a  distance  of  one  and  a 
half  miles,  thus  enclosing  Brooklyn  Heights.  Fort 
Box,"  later  called  Fort  Boerum,  near  Boerum's  Hill, 
was  on  the  margin  of  the  creek.  Fort  Greene,  three 
hundred  rods  to  the  left,  was  a  star-shaped  battery 

'  'T  Waale  Boght  then  extended  inland  to  the  corner  of  Flushing 
Avenue  and  Portland  Street. 

*  On  Pacific  Street,  above  Bond,  named  for  Major  Daniel  Box  of 
Greene's  Brigade. 

25  385 


386  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

carrying  six  guns.  The  oblong  redoubt,  built 
where  is  now  the  corner  of  De  Kalb  and  Hudson 
Avenues,  was  a  circular  battery.  On  the  hill,  in 
Washington  Park,  was  Fort  Putnam."  Besides  these 
were  Fort  Defiance  at  Red  Hook,  and  Fort  Sterling, 
largest  and  strongest  of  the  defences,  at  the  corner 
of  Hicks  and  Pierrepont  Streets,  commanding  the 
East  River.  In  the  present  whirl  of  traffic  at  the 
corner  of  Court  and  Atlantic  Streets,  there  rose  the 
Ponkieberg,  or  Cobble  Hill,"  a  symmetrically  conical 
glacial  mound,  seventy  feet  in  height,  nicknamed 
the  Corkscrew  Fort  from  its  spiral  ascent. 

There  were  in  all  but  thirty-five  guns  mostly 
eighteen  pounders.'  While  the  intrenchments  were 
of  the  rudest  and  least  enduring  kind,  they  were 
helped  by  the  broken  ground  of  that  sylvan  region. 
A  swamp  extended  around  the  village  of  Brooklyn, 
along  the  present  lines  of  Grand  and  Flushing  Ave- 
nues, from  the  Wallabout  to  Newtown  Creek.  More 
than  three-fourths  the  present  surface  of  the  city 
was  covered  with  a  magnificent  forest,  a  stately 
growth  of  pepperidge  and  oak,  of  liquidambar,  and 
ash,  of  chestnut  and  tulip-trees.  It  extended  from 
Fort  Putnam  down  to  the  Flatbush  and  Jamaica 
roads,   and    beyond,   broken   by   sunny   glades    of 

'  Probably  named  for  Colonel  Rufus  Putnam,  the  skilled  engineer 
engaged  on  the  defences  of  New  York.  Colonel  Putnam  became,  in 
Washington's  administration,  the  Surveyor-General  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  pioneer  of  Ohio,  settling  Marietta. 

'^  The  latter  name  was  given  by  the  Massachusetts  troops  from  its 
resemblance  to  Cobble  Hill,  near  Boston. 

'  For  calibre  and  distribution  of  the  guns,  see  Am.  Archives,  ser. 
v.,  vol.  i.,  p.  541. 


"HASTENING    TO  A    CRISIS."  387 

"  English  meadow,"  over  the  plains  of  Amersfoordt 
and  well  toward  "  The  New  Lots,"  where  the  wood- 
man's havoc  had  already  begun.  Approaching  the 
earthworks,  the  trees  were  felled  over  many  acres, 
and  presented  to  the  advance  of  the  army  an  oppos- 
ing mass  of  fallen  trunks,  of  intertangled  boughs,  and 
sharpened  branches. 

The  importance  of  the  issue  was  fully  recognized. 
On  June  4th,  John  Hancock,  President  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  had  written  to  the  Governors  and 
Assemblies  of  the  various  Colonies:  "  Our  affairs  are 
hastening  fast  to  a  crisis,  and  the  approaching  cam- 
paign will,  in  all  probability,  determine  forever  the 
fate  of  America."  So  it  was,  decisive,  not  as  ending 
the  war,  but  as  establishing  the  resisting  power  of 
the  Americans  and  the  fatuity  of  the  British 
generals. 

As  nearer  came  this  crisis  which  was  to  stain  with 
brothers'  blood  the  heights  of  Ihpetonga  and  the 
woodland  slopes  of  Vlackebosch,  the  Convention 
endeavoured  to  prepare  for  battle.  So  desperate 
did  the  case  seem  that  Jay  had  proposed  that  Long 
Island  should  be  laid  waste.  New  York  burned,  and 
the  inhabitants  fortify  themselves  in  the  Highlands. 
Thirteen  thousand  Provincial  Militia  were  ordered  to 
join  the  force  which  Washington  brought  from  Bos- 
ton and  a  reserve  corps  of  ten  thousand  was  to  be 
organised,  but  these  numbers  existed  only  on  paper. 
On  August  loth,  half  the  militia  of  Kings  and 
Queens  was  ordered  to  march  immediately  and  join 
the  officer  commanding  the  Continental  troops  on 
Nassau,  to  be  continued  in  service  until  September 


388  EARL  V  LONG  ISLAND. 

1st.  That  officer  had  been  General  Greene,  whose 
presence  at  Brooklyn  for  some  months  had  made  him 
familiar  with  the  topography  of  Kings  County.  His 
severe  illness  transferred  the  command  to  General 
Sullivan,  and  four  days  before  the  battle,'  it  was  given 
to  General  Putnam.  Putnam's  entire  ignorance  of 
the  ground,  and  of  any  military  tactics,  but  "  to  fight 
whenever  and  wherever  he  saw  an  enemy,"  left  the 
Americans  practically  with  no  commanding  officer, 
and  made  of  the  Battle  of  Brooklyn  not  a  general 
engagement,  but  a  series  of  detached  and  desperate 
struggles  blindly  fought  in  the  woods  and  swamps. 
The  General's  personal  bravery  has  made  of  him  a 
picturesque  character,  while  he  had  still  other  traits 
which  endeared  him  to  the  popular  heart.  The  peo- 
ple looked  upon  him  as  their  man,  but  his  disregard 
of  the  most  elementary  principles  of  warfare  cost 
them  dear.  The  orders  from  Washington  instructed 
him  to  "  form  lines  of  defence  and  to  secure  the 
woods  by  abatis,  &c."  General  Sullivan  had  kept  a 
nightly  patrol  on  the  various  roads.  This  was  now 
neglected,  and  Putnam  never  once  left  Brooklyn  to 
examine  the  various  lines  of  approach.' 

Both  English  and  American  authorities  disagree 
entirely  as  to  the  number  of  troops  engaged  in  the 
Battle  of  Brooklyn.  The  official  roll  of  Washing- 
ton's army  was  twenty  thousand  five  hundred  and 
thirty-seven,  but  of  these  three  thousand  eight  hun- 

'  See  Sullivan's  letter  to  Congress,  dated  "  White  Marsh,  Oct.  25th., 
1777- " 

Duer's  Life  of  Lord  Sterling,  p.  166. 

^  See  Dawson's  Battles  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  143. 


NUMBER   OF   THE  FORCE  ENGAGED.         389 

dred  men  were  ill,  or  absent  on  leave.  The  addition, 
in  July,  of  three  thousand  onp  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  was  of  a  body  inexperienced,  undisciplined,  and 
unequipped.  A  month  later,  he  had  but  seventeen 
thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-five,  of  whom 
three  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-eight  were  un- 
fit for  service,  leaving  but  thirteen  thousand  five 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  to  protect  the  entire  region 
from  King's  Bridge  to  the  Narrows.  Properly  to 
have  defended  the  forts  alone  would  have  needed 
eight  thousand  men,  and  as  many  more  were 
required  for  the  outside  lines.  On  August  22d, 
there  was  a  force  probably  of  five  thousand  five  hun- 
dred distributed  along  the  intrenchments.' 

England  was  still  hopeful  for  the  immediate  end- 
ing of  the  war.  A  single  decisive  blow  she  deemed 
sufficient  for  inexperienced  Provincial  Militia  and  for 
a  country  only  half-hearted  in  its  wish  for  indepen- 
dence. New  York,  from  its  position  at  the  moyth 
of  the  Hudson,  commanding  the  water-way  to 
Canada,  was  a  most  important  post  and,  naturally, 
the  base  of  operations.  Staten  Island  was  invested 
in  June,  Lord  Howe's  armament'  arrived  in  July,  and 
General  Clinton  came  with  the  fleet  repulsed  at 
Charleston.  There  was  no  thought  of  defeat ;  New 
York  won.  General  Carleton  was  to  descend  from 
Canada,   and   meeting   Lord    Howe,   cut   off    New 

'  Washington  wrote  to  Congress  that  "  the  shifting  and  changing 
which  the  Regiments  have  undergone,  has  prevented  their  making 
proper  returns,"  and  that  he  can  make  no  definite  report  of  the 
numbers  in  the  army,  or  fit  for  service. 

*  Six  ships  of  the  line,  thirty  frigates,  with  many  smaller  vessels  and 
transports, 


390  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

England  from  the  other  Colonies  and  thus  end 
the  war. 

The  plan  was  admirable,  but  it  involved  too  many- 
varying  factors  to  be  worked  to  a  successful  conclu- 
sion, while  no  allowance  was  made  for  the  personal 
equation.  Neither  the  uncertainties  of  the  weather, 
nor  the  need  for  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
ground,'  was  properly  estimated.  From  both  these 
causes  the  victory  was  less  than  was  confidently 
expected.  Lord  Howe  delayed  in  reaching  New 
York.  General  Howe  was  more  than  dilatory  in 
following  up  the  success  at  Brooklyn,  and  the  army 
from  Canada  did  not  advance  beyond  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  So  it  was  that,  although  the  city  of  New 
York  was  won  and  held  for  seven  years,  the  war  was 
but  at  its  beginning. 

Lord  Howe  and  his  brother  came  as  Royal  Com- 
missioners authorised  to  arrange  a  peace.  His 
attempted  negotiations  with  Washington  are  well 
known.  On  July  26th,  Thomas  Willet  of  Queens  was 
arrested  by  the  County  Committee  and  sent  to  Con- 
gress for  posting  in  the  various  towns  the  Declara- 
tion '  of  the  Howes  which  granted  "  a  free  and 
general  pardon  to  all  who  in  the  tumult  and  disorder 
of  the  times  may  have  deviated  from  just  allegiance, 
and  are  willing  by  a  speedy  return  to  their  duty  to 
reap  the  benefits  of  the  royal  favour." 

Now  began  the  stirring  events  of  the  week  whose 
culminating  action  is  recorded  in  history  as  the  Bat- 
tle of  Long  Island,  a  misnomer  for  what  contem- 
porary writing  and  tradition  always  call  the  Battle 
'  See  Appendix  iii.,  p.  505. 


GENERAL  HOWE'S  PROCLAMATION.  39 1 

of  Brooklyn.  As  well  might  Bunker  Hill  be  spoken 
of  as  the  Battle  of  Massachusetts.  On  August  22d, 
Howe's  fleet  approached  the  Narrows.'  Under 
cover  of  the  frigates,  the  Rose,  the  Phoenix,  and  the 
Grayhound,  twenty  thousand  (probably)  troops  were 
landed  at  Gravesend  Bay,  on  the  site  of  Bath,  at 
nearly  the  spot  whence  on  another  August  day,  one 
hundred  and  twelve  years  before,  an  English  officer 
had  marched  to  the  easy  conquest  of  a  foreign 
province. 

During  the  four  days  which  passed  before  the  final 
encounter,  the  greatest  alarm  was  felt  by  the  people 
of  Kings  in  anticipation  of  Hessian  barbarity,  while 
the  actual  depredations  from  the  American  camp 
were  not  less  to  be  feared.  Houses  and  lands  were 
deserted ;  sometimes  the  house  would  be  hastily  left 
with  the  very  table  spread  for  the  noon-day  meal. 
The  sky  was  lurid  with  flames  from  the  freshly 
stacked  grain,  the  plains  were  whitened  with  the 
tents  of  the  invaders,  and  the  clash  of  arms  and  the 
beat  of  drums  penetrated  far  into  the  forest  depths 
whose  only  accustomed  sounds  had  been  the  tink- 
ling cow-bell,  or  the  shrill  dinner-horn  from  some 
near  bouwerie. 

From  the  broad-roofed  stone  house  of  Denys 
Denyse,  then  standing  on  the  site  of  Fort  Hamilton, 
General  Howe  issued  on  August  23d  the  Proclama- 
tion which  was  his  ultimatum  : 

"  Whereas  it  is  reported  that  many  of  the  loyal 

'  See  Washington's  letter  to  the  President  of  Congress  announcing 
the  landing  of  the  British.  Am.  Archives,  ser,  v.,  vol,  i.,  p.  iiao 
and  to  Governor  TrujnbuU,  ibid.,  p.  1143, 


392  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

inhabitants  of  this  Island  have  been  compelled  by 
the  leaders  in  rebellion  to  take  up  arms  against  his 
Majesty's  government,  notice  is  hereby  given  to  all 
persons  so  forced  into  rebellion,  that  on  delivering 
themselves  up  at  the  Headquarters  of  the  Army, 
they  will  be  recognised  as  faithful  subjects  having 
permission  peaceably  to  return  to  their  respective 
dwellings  and  to  meet  with  full  protection  for  per- 
sons and  property.  All  who  choose  to  take  up 
arms  for  the  restoration  of  order  and  Good  Govern- 
ment within  this  Island,  shall  be  disposed  of  in  the 
best  manner  and  have  every  encouragement  that  can 
be  expected. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  and  seal,  at  Head 
Quarters,  Long  Island:  August  23d,  1776. 

"  William  Howe." 

On  the  morning  of  the  23d,  Colonel  Hand,  with  a 
battalion  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  Pennsylvania 
Riflemen,  attacked  the  Hessian  camp  at  Flatbush. 
Their  spirited  assault  was  only  repelled  by  the  artil- 
lery of  the  enemy.  On  the  24th,  the  Americans 
made  another  attack  and  burned  the  houses  of  Jere- 
miah Vanderbilt,  Everts  Hegeman,  and  Leffert 
Lefferts,  in  which  the  German  officers  were  quar- 
tered.' On  the  25th,  a  few  riflemen  brought  several 
guns  to  the  edge  of  the  woods  and,  opening  fire  on 
the  village,  were  with  difficulty  driven  back.     The 

'  Washington  wrote  to  Putnam  on  the  25th  :  "  I  perceived  yester- 
day, a  scattering,  unmeaning  and  wasteful  fire  from  our  people  at  the 
enemy,  a  kind  of  fire  which  tended  to  disgrace  our  own  men  as 
soldiers  and  to  render  our  defence  contemptible  in  the  eyes  of  the 
enemy." — Am.  Archives,  ser.  v.,  vol.  i.,  p.  1149. 


THE  LINES  OF  MARCH.  393 

Hessians  were  much  disconcerted  by  these  unex- 
pected and  persistent  attacks.  The  number  of  the 
American  army  was  greatly  exaggerated  by  the 
invaders,  while  the  vague  mystery  of  the  dark  forest, 
its  swamps  and  thickets,  added  a  new  and  appalling 
element  of  danger.  On  the  26th,  was  still  another 
of  these  preliminary  skirmishes  so  bravely  conducted 
that  Lord  Cornwallis  ordered  the  withdrawal  of  his 
men. 

The  27th  of  August  drew  near.  General  Putnam 
had  an  army  of  possibly  seven  thousand  men,  half 
of  them  outside  the  defences  of  Brooklyn.'  His 
left  wing  rested  on  the  Wallabout ;  his  right  was 
protected  by  the  salt  marshes  of  the  Gowanus  glow- 
ing in  the  midsummer  beauty  of  the  rose  mallows. 
A  deeper  crimson  was  soon  to  dye  the  already 
bronzed  grasses. 

The  two  armies  were  separated  by  that  nobly 
wooded  line  of  irregular  hills,  the  western  end  of 
the  backbone  of  Nassau.  Through  the  forest  and 
over  the  broken  ground,  fields  ploughed  for  the  winter 
wheat,  thickets  of  alder,  close-set  orchards  bending 
with  ripening  fruit,  and  tracts  of  swamp  and  swale 
in  the  gorgeous  bloom  of  the  August  Compositae, 

'  An  army  composed  almost  entirely  of  militia.  Some  of  the  diffi- 
culties in  its  management  are  shown  in  the  letter  of  Washington  to 
the  New  York  Convention,  August  30th,  explaining  why  he  gave  up 
further  attempt  to  hold  the  Island  :  "  It  is  the  most  intricate  thing 
in  the  world,  Sir,  to  know  how  to  conduct  one's  self  in  respect  to  the 
Militia  ;  if  you  do  not  begin  many  days  before  they  are  wanted  to 
raise. them,  you  cannot  have  them  in  time  ;  if  you  do,  they  get  tired 
and  return,  besides  being  under  very  little  order  or  government 
while  in  service." — Am.  Archives.^  ser.  v.,  vol.  i.,  p.  1230. 


394  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

there  were  but  three  routes  practicable  for  the 
march  of  an  army  encumbered  with  artillery  and 
heavy  baggage.  The  Shore-road  from  The  Narrows 
followed  closely  the  curvature  of  the  Bay,  the  Flat- 
bush  Road  led  through  forest  and  farm,  while 
another,  farther  east,  ran  through  Flatlands  toward 
the  clearing  beginning  to  be  called  The  New  Lots. 
Along  the  ridge  ran  the  King's  Highway  to  Jamaica 
on  which  were  occasional  posts. 

At  nine  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  26th  the 
British  began  to  move.  The  army  advanced  in  well 
considered  order.  The  Centre  on  the  Flatbush  Road 
was  of  Hessians  under  the  blufT  old  General  de  Heis- 
ter  ;  the  Left  Wing  was  of  English  Regulars  under 
Major-General  Grant,  an  oiificer  who  had  served  well 
in  the  last  French  and  Indian  war ;  while  the  Right 
moved  to  the  East  on  the  road  toward  New  Lots. 
The  plan  was  that,  while  distracting  the  attention  of 
the  Americans  by  the  feints  of  the  Centre  and  Left, 
the  Right,  marching  through  Flatlands,  should  seize 
the  crossing  of  the  road  with  the  Jamaica  Turnpike, 
and  thus  reach  the  rear  of  the  Americans. 

The  Right  was  the  largest  and  most  experienced 
division  of  the  army.  The  van  of  light  infantry  was 
under  General  Clinton.  Lord  Percy  led  the  cavalry 
and  artillery,  and  Cornwallis  followed  with  the  heavy 
infantry  and  baggage.  He  was  accompanied  by  the 
Commander-in-chief,  General  Howe.  Slowly  and 
cautiously  the  army  marched  through  the  dewy 
August  night,  past  the  deserted  bouweries  and  farm- 
houses of  Flatlands,  half  concealed  in  rising  mist 
wreaths,  through  the  forest,  sawing  down  the  trees 


THE    UNGUARDED  PASS.  395 

which  obstructed  their  way,  that  no  sound  of  axe 
should  give  the  alarm,  arresting  every  belated  way- 
farer who  might  betray  their  advance. 

Reaching  the  salt-water  creek  which  pushes  up 
from  Gowanus  Bay,  at  the  Schoonmaacher's  Bridge, 
just  south  of  the  site  of  East  New  York,  they  were 
surprised  to  find  the  route  open  to  the  Jamaica 
Road.  At  two  in  the  morning,  Cornwallis  had 
reached  the  Half-way  House,  the  inn  of  William 
Howard.'  Forcing  the  innkeeper  into  their  service, 
they  were  guided  to  a  narrow  pass  through  the  hills, 
the  "  Rockaway  Path,"  a  bridle  road  crossing  the 
present  grounds  of  the  Evergreen  Cemetery,  and 
leading  into  the  Bushwick  LaneT  To  their  astonish- 
ment they  found  the  pass  unguarded,  and  its  posses- 
sion virtually  decided  the  day.  Colonel  Miles,  who 
was  stationed  in  the  region,  was  in  command  of  a 
body  of  men  worn  with  five  days'  continuous  watch- 
ing. This  night  they  slept,  but  although  completely 
surprised "  they  fought  bravely  in  the  forlorn  hope 
to  retrieve  their  negligence.  It  was  too  late  ;  the 
carelessness  was  fatal  to  the  American  success,  and 
the  detachment  itself  was  completely  routed. 

Meanwhile,  Putnam  had  burst  into  Lord  Sterling's 
tent  in  the  earliest  dawn  and  roused  him  with  the 
news  of  the  British  approach  on  the  road  from  The 
Narrows.  Quickly  the  Americans  mustered  in  the 
woods  which  covered  the  hills  and  dales  of  Green- 
wood, stretching  down  on  either  side  to  Flatlands 

'  At  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  the  Jamaica  Turnpike. 
^  The  advancing  party  was  led  by  William  Granville  Evelyn,  the 
grandson  of  John  Evelyn  of  Wotton, 


396  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

and  to  Gowanus.  Their  number  and  position  were 
thus  concealed,  a  circumstance  greatly  in  their 
favour.     Here  was  to  be  the  actual  battle. 

Although,  on  August  27th,  "  17,000  of  the  best 
troops  of  Europe  met  5,500  undisciplined  men  in 
the  first  pitched  battle  of  the  Revolution," "  the  real 
conflict  was  between  Sterling  and  Grant.  Grant 
had  said  in  Parliament  that  with  five  thousand 
British  troops  he  could  march  from  one  end  to  the 
other  of  the  American  Continent.  Sterling  repeated 
this  boast  to  his  men,  and  added  :  "  We  are  not  so 
many,  but  I  think  we  are  enough  to  prevent  his 
advancing  farther  over  the  Continent  than  this  mill- 
pond." 

There  was  hard  fighting  on  the  ground  now  be- 
tween Washington  Avenue  and  Third  Street,  and 
on  the  low  land  near  Greene  Avenue  and  Fourth 
Street.  The  American  lines  were  broken  only  when 
attacked  in  front,  rear,  and  flank.  Lord  Percy's 
Corps  came  up  and  the  whole  body  descended  to 
the  flat  between  the  hills  and  the  American  camp. 
The  Maarteiise  Lane  wound  among  the  hills  of 
Greenwood  and  now  marks  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  Cemetery.  Where  it  crossed  the  Gowanus 
Road  stood  the  Red  Lion  Inn,  another  centre  of 
battle.  The  road  was  held  by  the  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  Militia.  Charged  by  Lord  Percy,  they 
fell  back  until  reinforced  by  General  Parsons,  who 
stationed  himself  on  the  Blockje's  Berg"  and  held  his 

'  Mem.  Lon^  Island  Historical  Society,  vol.  ii.      The  Battle  of  Long 
Island;  T.  W.  Field. 
'^  Near  Sylvan  Lake,  Greenwood. 


A   NEW   THERMOPYL^.  397 

ground  until  Lord  Sterling  came  to  his  aid.  They 
fought  gallantly,  not  knowing  the  day  was  already 
lost.  The  action  was  scattered  and  at  times  inde- 
cisive ;  the  broken  ground  and  intervening  forests 
occasioned  many  distinct  side  combats. 

For  some  hours  the  Americans  were  driven  back 
and  forth  between  the  English  and  the  Hessians. 
The  Cortelyou  Mansion'  served  as  a  redoubt  for 
Cornwallis.  Lord  Sterling  bore  upon  it,  three  times 
driven  back  by  the  murderous  shot,  three  times 
rallying  for  assault.  In  his  Corps  was  Colonel 
Smallwood's  Regiment,  the  chivalry  of  Maryland, 
young  men  from  the  old  Catholic  families  of  the 
Province.  "  We  can  but  send  you  our  best,"  wrote 
the  Maryland  Assembly  to  Washington.  Retreat 
soon  became  inevitable.  Then,  at  the  front,  in  con- 
scious sacrifice,  the  brave  boys  held  the  enemy. 
Ten  minutes  were  gained.  The  main  division  es- 
caped' over  the  flooded  marsh,  and  the  muddy, 
tide-swelled  stream  of  the  Gowanus.  But  of  those 
who  guarded  their  retreat,  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
six  fell.  It  was  a  new  Thermopylae.  Washington 
from  his  post  on  Cobble  Hill,  watching  them  fall, 
exclaimed,  wringing  his  hands  :  "  My  God  !  what 
brave  men  must  I  lose !  "  On  the  farm  of  Adrian 
Van  Brunt,  a  little  island,  scarcely  an  acre  in  extent,' 
rose  above  the  swamp.  Here' they  were  buried  in 
their  uniform  of  scarlet  and  bufi,  a  spot  held  sacred 

'  Near  Fifth  Avenue  and  Tenth  Street.     It  was  built  in  1699. 

'^  The  Delaware  regiments,  and  half  the  Marylanders,  with  the 
loss  of  but  seven  men  drowned.  Of  the  protecting  party  only  nine 
escaped. 

'  Between  Seventh  and  Eighth  Avenues,  near  Third  Street.  . 


398  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

until  the  cutting  and  grading  of  city  streets  merged 
it  in  the  general  obliteration  of  all  venerable  land- 
marks. 

Before  noon  the  contest  was  nearly  over.  A  few 
squads  by  desperate  fighting  made  their  way  back 
to  the  intrenchments  ;  others  hid  in  the  woods  and 
swamps,  but  a  thousand  men  lay  dead  on  the  field.' 
On  the  beautiful  slope,  the  Battle  Pass  in  Prospect 
Park,  a  sunny  glade  shut  in  by  silver  firs,  its  smooth 
turf  flecked  with  the  fluttering  shadows  of  weeping 
birch,  there,  half  hidden  beneath  clumps  of  box,  a 
great  boulder  bears  a  bronze  tablet  commemorating 
this  hour.     It  reads  : 

"  Line  of  Defense 
Aug.  27,  1776 
Battle  of  Long  Island 
175  Feet  South !- 


Site  of  Valley  Grove  House 
150  Feet  North." 


The  dark  forest,  the  sodden  swamp,  the  well- 
ordered  streets,  the  delightsome  Park,  its  drives  and 
walks — such  are  the  sharp  antitheses  of  a  century. 

'  An  officer  in  General  Frazer's  Battalion  wrote:  "  The  Hessians 
and  our  brave  Highlanders  gave  no  quarter.  It  was  a  very  fine  sight 
to  see  with  what  alacrity  they  dispatched  the  rebels  with  their  bayo- 
nets after  we  had  surrounded  them  so  they  could  not  resist.  We 
took  care  to  tell  Ae  Hessians  the  rebels  had  resolved  to  give  no 
quarter  to  them,  particularly,  which  made  them  fight  desperately, 
and  put  to  death  all  that  came  into  their  hands." 

Another  officer  of  high  rank  wrote:  "The  Americans  fought 
bravely  and  could  not  be  broken  till  greatly  outnumbered  and  taken 
flank,  front  and  rear.  We  were  greatly  shocked  by  the  massacres 
made  by  the  Hessians  and  Highlanders  after  the  victory  was  de- 
cided. " 


LOSSES  OF   THE  BATTLE.  399 

By  two  o'clock  fighting  was  over.  Many  were 
taken  prisoners,  or  died  miserably  in  the  attempt 
to  escape  through  the  swamps  of  Gowanus  up 
which  the  treacherous  tide  was  hastening.  Lord 
Sterling  was  captured,  but,  refusing  to  surrender  to 
Cornwallis,  sought  De  Heister,  and  gave  his  sword 
to  him.  No  exact  returns  of  the  American  loss  were 
ever  made.  General  Howe's  roll  of  prisoners  was 
one  thousand  and  ninety-seven."  His  estimate  of 
the  entire  loss  at  thirty-three  hundred  is  certainly  an 
exaggeration.     In  killed,  missing,  and  prisoners  it 

'  It  was  but  three  weeks  later  that  the  Whitby,  first  of  the  prison 
ships,  was  moored  in  the  Wallabout.  Disease  was  rife,  and  she  was 
a  floating  pest-house.  The  next  May  two  other  ships  came,  into  which 
the  surviving  prisoners  were  transferred.  Within  a  year  both  of  these 
ships  were  burned.  In  April,  1778,  the  old  Jersey  was  brought  there, 
while  the  Hope  and  the  Falmouth  were  anchored  near  as  hospital 
ships,  and  there  they  remained  until  the  Evacuation  of  New  York. 
The  New  York  Journals  of  the  time  give  the  number  dying  on  these 
ships  at  11,500,  a  statement  never  contradicted  by  any  English  sta- 
tistics. 

A  letter  was  written  from 

"  Boston  Apr.  13th  1783 
"  To  all  Printers  of  Public  News-Papers. 

"  Tell  the  whole  world  and  let  it  be  printed  in  every  news-paper 
throughout  America,  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa  to  the  everlasting  dis- 
grace and  infamy  of  the  British  King's  Commander  at  New  York, 

"  That  during  the  late  war,  ELEVEN  thousand  six  hundred  and 
SEVENTY-FOUR  American  Prisoners  have  suffered  death  by  their  in- 
human, cruel,  savage  and  barbarous  usage  on  board  the  filthy  and 
malignant  British  Prison  Ship  called  the  Jersey,  lying  at  New  York. 
Britons !  tremble  least  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  fall  on  your  Isle, 
for  the  blood  of  these  unfortunate  victims.  An  American." 

— Remembrancer ,  vol.  xvi.,  p.  112. 


400  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

possibly  did  not  exceed  two  thousand.  The  English 
loss  was  about  four  hundred.' 

The  American  troops  struggled  back  to  their  lines 
and  found  unexpected  repose.  The  story  of  the 
evening  is  well  told  by  the  spirited  historian  of 
New  York  during  the  Revolution?^  "  The  Brit- 
ish victory  was  complete.  The  rebel  army  took 
refuge  within  the  lines.  Generals  Clinton  and 
Vaughn  and  Lord  Cornwallis  pressed  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief hard  for  leave  to  enter  the  lines, 
and  the  common  men  were  with  difficulty  restrained. 
He  said,  '  Enough  has  been  done  for  one  day,'  arid 
called  off  the  troops  and  camped  within  six  hundred 
paces  of  the  American  redoubt." 

'  See  Howe's  Official  Report,  Am.  Archives,  ser.  v.,  vol.  i.,  pp. 

1255-9- 

In  the  Journal  of  the  American  War  by  R.  I.  Lamb,  Sergeant  of 
the  Royal  Welsh  Fusileers,  he  tabulates  the  loss  as  follows  : 

American  :  English  ; 

3  generals,  i  colonel, 

10  field  officers,  6  captains, 

11  ensigns,  8  lieutenants, 
I  adjutant,  14  sergeants, 

3  surgeons,  3  drummers, 

1008  rank  and  file,  231  rank  and  file. 

Total,  1036.  Total,  263. 

'Jones,  vol.  i.,  p.  no.  For  letters  on  the  Battle  of  Brooklyn, 
see  Am.  Archives,  ser.  v.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  1193-8  ;  1211-4  ;  1243-6. 
One  of  these  writers  says,  August  20th  :  ' '  The  great  and  impending 
day,  big  with  the  fate  of  America  and  Liberty,  seems  to  draw 
near."  Another  writes  :  "The  enemy  has  gained  a,  little  ground , 
but  has  bought  it  almost  as  dearly  as  at  Bunker  Hill.  Our  army  be- 
haved most  nobly.  They,  as  it  were,  surrounded  our  people,  and 
we  were  obliged  to  force  our  way  through  them.  .  .  .  Colonel 
Smallwood's  battalion  has  gained  immortal  honour.  The  officers 
gave  T.,ord  Sterling  the  character  of  as  brave  a  man  as  ever  lived." 


SUFFERINGS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  TROOPS.      40I 

It  has  been  well  said  that  "  every  victorious  field 
proved  a  Capua  to  General  Howe "  (Field),  but 
therein  was  more  than  the  influence  of  an  ease-lov- 
ing nature.  His  absolute  timidity  before  the  slight 
defences  of  the  American  army  may  have  been  in  a 
measure  due  to  the  fatal  snare  that  lines  as  weak 
had  proved  at  Ticonderoga  to  his  brother,  the  more 
estimable  Lord  George  Howe.  Among  their  own 
officers  there  was  unstinted  blame  of  the  lethargy 
and  indifference  of  both  General  Howe  and  the  Ad- 
miral, Lord  Richard,  and  yet  the  former  received 
the  Order  of  the  Bath  for  his  victory  at  Brooklyn.' 

During  the  daj'^,  Washington  had  watched  its 
fortunes  from  the  Ponkieberg.  When  its  result 
was  certain,  he  hastened  to  New  York  to  collect 
such  additional  forces  as  might  hold  the  American 
lines,  and  returned  at  evening  to  prepare  the  works 
for  assault.  A  heavy  rain  fell  through  the  night  of 
the  27th.  Few  of  his  soldiers  were  sheltered  by 
tents  or  protected  by  blankets.  They  suffered  also 
from  extreme  hunger.  Most  of  them  had  rushed 
a-field  in  the  morning  with  no  breakfast,  while  now 
their  bread  was  water-soaked,  and  the  rain  extin- 
guished the  fires  by  which  they  attempted  to  fry 
their  morsels  of  salt  pork. 

At  daybreak  the  reinforcements  came,  raising  the 

'  They  were  not  without  their  ardent  defenders.  A  letter  written 
from  New  York  to  the  London  Chronicle  excuses  the  4elay  in  follow- 
ing up  a  victory  which  might  speedily  have  ended  the  war,  by  say- 
ing :  "  The  impenetrable  secresy  observed  by  the  two  noble  brothers 
has  wholly  disconcerted  and  confounded  the  rebels  to  a  degree 
which  will  ensure  a  glorious  triumph  to  his  Majesty  over  this  hellish 
American  sedition,  its  ringleaders,  and  abettors." 


402  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

number  of  the  army  to  ten  thousand  (Fiske).  Thir- 
teen  hundred  men  were  placed  on  the  line  between 
the  Wallabout  and  Fort  Putnam.  During  the  28th 
there  was  some  firing  on  Fort  Putnam.  Prepara- 
tions were  leisurely  begun  for  a  formal  siege  of  the 
American  intrenchments.  On  the  muddy  ground 
behind  the  breastworks  the  soldiers  lay  all  day  on 
their  firearms  to  protect  them  from  the  still  falling 
rain.  Had  Lord  Howe  passed  up  the  East  River, 
as  was  expected,  nothing  could  have  saved  the 
American  army  from  annihilation.  The  morning  of 
the  29th  came,  dark  and  rainy,  but  before  noon  the 
heavy  fog  lifted,  the  English  had  finished  their  re- 
doubt, and  were  at  length  ready  for  action.  Secure 
in  the  certainty  of  success,  they  did  not  hasten  the 
assault,  but  during  the  day  there  was  some  desul- 
tory firing.  Demoralised  as  his  troops  were,  by 
exposure,  fatigue,  and  despondency,  Washington 
had  still  determined  to  attempt  another  battle  on 
Long  Island.  But  meanwhile  General  Mifflin,  Colo- 
nel Reed,  and  Colonel  Grayson,  examining  Red 
Hook,  whence  they  could  take  in  the  whole  situa- 
tion, urged  him  strongly  to  withdraw  the  army  be- 
fore the  English  fleet  passed  up  the  river. 

Three  most  surprising  facts  are  here  to  be  no- 
ticed :  the  delay  Washington  had  already  made  in 
removing  his  forces,  happily  neutralised  by  the  neg- 
lect of  Admiral  Howe  to  use  his  fleet,  and  the  fail- 
ure of  General  Howe  to  at  once  carry  the  American 
works  by  easy  assault.'     The  remissness  of  the  Eng- 

'  Their  course  is  severely  condemned  by  all  English  historians. 
Jones's  account  of  the  campaign  is  one  long  denunciation  of  the 


A    COUNCIL   OF   WAR.  403 

lish  commanders  thus  made  for  the  safety  of  the 
American  army.'  Late  on  the  afternoon  of  August 
29th,  a  Council  of  War  was  held  in  the  old  Cornell 
House"  on  Brooklyn  Heights.  There  were  present, 
besides  Washington,  Major-Generals  Putnam  and 
Spencer ;  Brigadier-Generals  Mifflin,  McDougal,  Fel- 
lows, and  Wadsworth",  with  John  Morin  Scott.  They 
have  left  on  record  the  obvious  and  cogent  reasons 
for  abandoning  the  Brooklyn  lines,  and  for  an  im- 
mediate retreat  to  New  York.  Although  Scott, 
with  characteristic  fervour,  protested  against  yield- 
ing a  single  inch  of  ground,  Washington  was  finally 
persuaded  to  give  up  an  attempt  at  longer  resist- 
ance. Orders  were  at  once  sent  to  New  York  to 
collect  for  the  removal  of  the  army  every  possible 
craft.  A  motley  fleet  it  was,  row-boats  and  flat- 
boats,  whale-boats  and  sail-boats,  pinks  and  snows, 
while  Colonel  Glover's  Marblehead  regiment  fur- 
nished seven  hundred  stout-armed  oarsmen.  Wash- 
ington allowed  it  to  be  supposed  that  he  intended 
taking  part  of  the  army  up  the  East  River,  to  land 
at  Hallet's  Point,  and  thus  marching  southeast,  to 
gain  the  rear  of  the  British  army.     The  design  was 

Howes ;  "  Had  Admiral  Howe  passed  up  the  East  River  to  Hell- 
Gate  not  a  rebel  would  have  escaped  from  Long  Island.  The  whole 
grand  rebel  army  with  Washington  at  their  head  would  have  been 
prisoners,  rebellion  at  an  end,  the  heroes  immortalised,  and  the  27th 
August,  1776,  recorded  in  the  Annals  of  Britain  as  a  day  not  less 
glorious  than  those  of  Ramillies  and  Blenheim.  .  .  .  But  this 
was  not  done,  and  why  it  was  not,  let  the  brothers  Howe  tell." — 
ifist.  Neto  York  during  the  Revolution,  vol.  i. ,  p.  113. 

^  Am.  Archives,  series  v.,  vol.  i.,  p.  1246. 

"^  Later  the  Pierrepont  residence  on  Montague  Street,  known  as 
"  The  Four  Chimneys." 


404  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

kept  SO  secret  that,  until  the  last  moment,  the  mar- 
shalled soldiers  supposed  themselves  detailed  for 
this  service. 

General  McDougal  managed  the  embarkation 
under  the  supervision  of  Washington,  who  had  not 
slept  for  forty-eight  hours.  At  eight  in  the  evening 
the  first  detachment  marched  to  the  ferry.  Silently 
through  the  night  the  work  went  on ;  the  cannon, 
arms,  ammunition,  the  horses,  and  the  entire  army 
were  safely  transferred,  Alexander  Hamilton,  who 
at  nineteen  here  served  as  captain  of  artillery,  bring- 
ing up  the  rear.  It  was  only  as  the  sun  rose  that 
the  protecting  fog  lifted  from  the  river  and  from 
over  the  abandoned  trenches.  The  retreat  was  not 
suspected  by  the  English  until  seven  o'clock.  Even 
then  there  was  a  delay  by  General  Robertson,  who 
did  not  enter  the  deserted  camp  until  half-past  eight, 
just  as  the  last  boats  were  pushing  off  from  the 
Brooklyn  shore. 

A  small  number  of  American  troops  had  been  sta- 
tioned on  Governor's  Island,  and  were  now  quite  at 
the  mercy  of  Lord  Howe.  The  story  of  their  escape 
is  quaintly  told  in  the  simple  narrative  of  Jabez 
Flint,  one  of  the  "  New  Levies"  of  Tolland  County, 
Connecticut,  who  after  the  siege  of  Boston  had  ac- 
companied Washington  to  New  York  :  "  The  fore- 
part of  the  Campaign,  our  Regiment  was  stationed 
on  Governor's  Island  and  remained  there  until  after 
the  retreat  of  our  Army  from  Brooklyn.  Our  situa- 
tion was  then  most  perilous :  the  enemy's  fleet  on 
the  west  and  their  batteries  on  Long  Island,  which 
began  playing  on  us  immediately  with  great  fury. 


GENERAL    WOODHULL.  405 

However,  during  the  day  there  was  a  considerable 
number  of  boats  collected  which  brought  off  the 
greatest  part  of  the  men  by  daylight  amidst  a  tre- 
mendous shower  of  cannon  balls  from  the  enemy's 
batteries.  Gen.  Washington,  with  much  anxiety, 
was  at  the  time  standing  on  the  Battery,  viewing 
our  condition.  We  generally  all  arrived  safely  in 
the  City.  Some  very  few  deaths  are  said  to  have 
happened.  The  rest  of  the  forces  lay  concealed 
until  dark  when  they  were  brought  off  safely." 

The  capture  and  death  of  General  WoodhuU  was 
a  deplorable  event  of  the  week.  No  loss  was  more 
mourned  than  his.  By  birth  and  marriage  he  was 
of  the  oldest  families  of  Brookhaven.  He  had 
served  as  major  under  Abercrombie  at  Ticonderoga 
and  Crown  Point,  with  Bradstreet  at  Frontenac, 
and  as  colonel  with  Amherst  at  Montreal.  In  the 
prime  of  life,  with  great  personal  bravery  and  a 
military  aptitude  enriched  by  experience,  he  was 
one  of  the  most  esteemed  of  the  American  officers. 
In  August,  1775,  he  was  made  president  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress.  He  held  the  office  when  the  Con- 
gress passed  into  the  Convention  of  the  State,  and 
as  the  colonial  government  had  been  overthrown, 
he  was  thus,  de  facto.  Governor  of  New  York. 

As  the  British  fleet  lay  off  The  Narrows,  the  Con- 
vention, foreseeing  their  landing  on  Long  Island, 
resolved  on  the  policy  which  has  been  successful 
from  the  time  of  Darius's  invasion  of  Scythia.  But 
their  action  was  delayed,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
25th  that  orders  were  given  for  the  cattle  in  Queens 
County  to  be  driven  east  of  Hempstead  Plains,  and 


4o6  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

that  all  hay,  grain,  and  other  stores  should  be  re- 
moved or  burned.  General  Woodhull  was  directed 
to  take  the  five  hundred  Suffolk  County  Militia  to 
Queens,  and  to  call  upon  the  Queens  County  troops 
to  aid  him  in  the  execution  of  the  orders.  Of  the 
entire  body,  but  two  hundred  met  him  at  Jamaica, 
and  this  inadequate  force  soon  was  reduced  a  half 
by  desertion.  He  succeeded  in  removing  the  cattle 
from  Newtown,  Jamaica,  and  Hempstead,  but  could 
accomplish  nothing  more.  His  messages  to  the 
Convention  for  reinforcements,  or  for  permission  to 
join  the  troops  at  Brooklyn,  were  delayed  and  un- 
answered. Thus  was  lost  to  the  army  his  skilled 
military  service  and  a  knowledge  of  the  ground 
which  would  have  averted  the  worst  disasters  of  the 
day.  He  remained  at  Jamaica  on  the  27th,  within 
sound  of  the  booming  cannon,  but  too  obedient  a 
soldier  to  move  without  orders.  As  his  force  melted 
away  on  the  28th,  scattered  by  rumours  of  defeat, 
he  awaited  with  stoic  composure  the  fate  he  knew 
to  be  inevitable.  At  about  five  o'clock,  at  an  inn 
two  miles  east  of  Jamaica,  he  was  taken  prisoner  by 
a  party  of  dragoons.  Surrendering  his  sword,  he 
was  ordered  by  his  captors  to  say,  "  God  save  the 
King !  "  "  God  save  us  all !  "  was  his  fervent  ejacula- 
tion. The  angry  major  in  command  '  fiercely  at- 
tacked him,  and  %e  would  have  been  killed  but  for 
the  intervention  oT  the  other  officers.  On  the  29th 
he  was  taJcenyto  New  Utrecht.  His  inflamed 
wounds  were  dressed  by  the  English  surgeon,  in  the 
little  Dutch  church  which  was  for  another  day  his 
'  Oliver  de  Lancey, 


KEMBLE'S  JOURNAL.  407 

prison.  With  others  he  was  then  removed  to  the 
Pacific,  and  thence  to  the  Mentor,  a  yet  more  foul 
cattle-transport.  Enduring  its  horrors  for  a  week, 
he  was  finally  brought  to  the  old  stone  mansion 
which  Nicasius  de  Sillehad  built  in  1657,'  now  used 
as  a  hospital. 

The  amputation  of  his  arm  was  made,  but  too 
late  to  save  his  life.  His  wife,  Ruth,  daughter  of 
Nicoll  Floyd,  reached  him  but  shortly  before  his 
death,  to  return  her  sad  way,  bearing  his  body  to 
rest  among  the  ancestral  graves  of  his  homestead  at 
Mastic.  A  characteristic  note  was  struck  when,  in 
General  WoodhuU's  summons  to  his  wife,  he  bade 
her  bring  all  the  money  and  provisions  she  could 
collect.  She  came  with  a  wagon  filled  with  bread, 
meal,  hams,  poultry,  and  all  seasonable  farm  pro- 
duce, to  be  distributed  among  his  fellow-sufferers. 

An  interesting  contemporary  account  of  the  Battle 
of  Brooklyn  is  in  the  Journal  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Stephen  Kemble,  the  son  of  Gertrude  Bayard,  and 
Adjutant  under  General  Howe.' 

"  Thurs.  Aug.  22. 

"  At  Daybreak  Reserve  embarked  in  flatboats 
towed  to  Long  Island  &  landed  about  9  AM.  at 
New  Utrecht,  without  the  smallest  opposition. 
The  ships  with  the  rest  of  the  troops  came  all 
ashore  by  twelve,  14,700  men. 

"  The  Advance  under  Lt.-Gen.  Clinton  and  Earl 
Cornwallis, — the  reserve  composed  of  Grenadiers  of 

'  Taken  down  in  1850. 

^  See  Collections  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  1885. 


408  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

the  42nd  &  33rd  Regts  with  part  of  the  Light  In- 
fantry,  proceeded  immediately  to  Flatbush  with 
1,500  Hessians  under  Col.  Donop,  where  they  had 
some  skirmishing  with  the  Rebels  from  the  Heights 
leading  to  Brookland  Ferry  &  a  few  men  were 
killed  &  wounded,  but  of  no  consequence. 

"Part  of  the  Light  Infantry  &  the  71st  took  post 
at  Flatlands  Church.  The  rest  of  our  army  ex- 
tending from  Gravesend  to  New  Utrecht  remained 
in  that  position  until  the  26th,  at  night  when  they 
were  ordered  to  march,  Gen.  de  Heister  having 
joined  the  day  before  and  taken  post  at  Flatbush, 
keeping  Donop's  corps  with  him.  We  were  ordered 
to  March,  the  Right  Light  Infantry  in  front,  Grena- 
diers 33rd  &  42nd,  First  Brigade,  71st,  Third  Bri- 
gade, Fifth  &  Second  by  Flatlands  Church  into  the 
Jamaica  Road  at  the  Halfway  House  where  we 
arrived  at  Sunrise  &  pursued  our  Route  after  a 
Short  halt,  to  Brookland.  About  a  mile  before  we 
came  to  Bedford  saw  the  Rebels  on  our  Left.  The 
Light  Infantry  ordered  to  attack  them  which  they 
did  with  success  and  drove  them  every  way ;  the 
Grenadiers  continued  the  Road  to  Brookland  with 
the  general  at  their  head  to  cut  off  the  Enemy's 
Retreat  from  Brookland  Heights  which  was  happily 
executed.  Lieut.-Gen.  de  Heister  attacked  from 
Flatbush  at  the  same  time  &  Major-Gen.  Grant  with 
the  Fourth  &  Sixth  Brigade  from  the  Heights  of 
the  Narrows  by  which  measure  the  Rebels  were  cut 
off  from  all  Retreat  and  cooped  up  in  the  woods  to 
the  Right  of  the  Road  from  Frookland  to  Flat- 
lands.     Major-Gen.  Grant  had  attacked  early  in  the 


KEMBLE'S  JOURNAL. 


409 


morning,  but  the  Enemy  under  Brigadier-General 
Lord  Sterling  &  Major-Gen.  Sullivan  being  strongly 
posted  in  the  woods  could  not  proceed  far.  The 
action  between  them  and  part  of  the  Main  body 
continued  until  late  in  the  afternoon.  The  Rebels 
lost  upward  of  3000  men,  3  General  Ofificers. — 
Major-Gen.  Sullivan,  Brigadier-Gen.  Lord  Sterling 
and  Brigadier-Gen.  Woodhull,  3  colonels,  4  lieut.- 
colonels,  3  majors,  18  captains,  15  subalterns,  and 
upward  of  1 100  men  taken  Prisoners,  most  of  them 
Riflemen  of  whom  they  lost  1 500. 

"  Returns  of  the  Killed,  Wounded  and  Missing  of 
the  British  troops  on  Long  Island  August  27th  : 


Lt.  Col. 

Capt. 

Sub. 

Sgt. 

Drum. 

Rank  &  File. 

Killed 

Wounded. . . . 
Missing 

I 
I 

3 
3 

I 
8 

I 

3 
II 

I 

3 

53 

231 

29 

Total 

2 

6 

10 

15 

3 

+  3'3  =  349 

"  Wed.  Aug.  28  &  29. 

"  Employed  in  Erecting  Batteries  to  attack  their 
works  on  Brookland  Heights. 

"  Fri.  Aug.  30. 

"  In  AM.  to  our  great  astonishment  found  they  had 
evacuated  all  their  works  on  Brookland  &  Red  Hook 
without  a  shot  being  fired  at  them,  &  to  the  best  of 
our  observation  found  a  body  of  300  or  400  remain- 
ing on  Governor's  Island  who  might  have  been  taken 
by  flat  Boat,  but  for  what  reason  was  not  attempted. 
Neither  could  our  shipping  get  up  for  want  of  wind, 


4IO  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

and  the  whole  escaped  the  following  Night  to  New 
York. 

"  Saturday  Aug.  31. 
"  Marched  to  Newtown  with  the  Grenadiers,  Light 
Infantry,  First,  Second,  Third,  Fifth  &  Sixth  Brigades 
&  71st  Regt.  who  occupied  Flushing  &  Jamaica." 

There  were  many  narratives  of  the  Battle  written  at 
the  time,  besides  journals  and  letters,  all  more  or  less 
correct.all  more  or  less  coloured  by  the  strong  feelings 
of  the  writers  on  either  side.  One  which  had  a  brief 
popularity  in  England  and  in  the  British  army  here  was 
an  anonymous  pamphlet,  "  Printed  for  J.  Rivington, 
in  the  year  of  the  Rebellion,  1776,  The  Battle  of 
Brooklyn.  A  FARCE  in  TWO  ACTS  as  it  was 
performed  on  LONG  ISLAND  on  Tuesday  the  27th 
day  of  August,  1776,  by  the  REPRESENTATIVES  of 
the  Tyrants  of  America  Assembled  in  Phila- 
delphia." It  is  a  short  pasquinade,  equally  devoid 
of  decency  and  of  wit. 


XVII. 
PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR. 

THE  Battle  of  Brooklyn  was  over,  the  most 
signal  defeat  which  ever  befell  the  American 
arms.  It  ushered  in  the  gloomiest  period  of 
the  war,  darkness  dispelled  only  when,  a  year  later, 
the  September  sun  shone  over  the  field  of  Still- 
water. Charles  Fox  spoke  in  Parliament  of  the 
"  terrible  news  from  Long  Island." '  Such  it  was 
for  the  friends  of  the  American  cause,  while  the 
success  gained  was  of  little  advantage  to  the  victors. 
General  Howe's  mismanagement  of  the  campaign 
excited  the  strongest  feeling  in  the  British  army, 
which  had  hoped  for  a  more  decisive  victory  and  a 
speedy  ending  of  the  war,  as  well  as  among  the  Loy- 
alists, who  were  anxiously  looking  for  peace.  When, 
in  April,  1779,  the  House  of  Commons  considered 
his  character,  "  as  an  officer  and  a  gentleman,"  no 
shadows  were  deeper  than  those  cast  by  his  conduct 
on  Long  Island.  Peter  Van  Schaack,  of  Kinder- 
hook,  the  friend  of  Egbert  Benson  and  of  Jay,  a 

'  The  news  of  the  battle  was  not  received  in  London  until  Oc- 
tober loth. 

411 


412  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Loyalist,  then  living  in  London,  writes  of  his  course 
in  unstinted  condemnation  :  "  If  decision  was  the 
great  object,  Long  Island  was  the  theatre  for  it ;  the 
situation  of  the  country  was  in  your  favour.  The 
American  army  was  at  that  time  in  its  infancy  ;  there 
was  but  little  discipline  amongst  them,  they  were  ill- 
appointed,  and  ill-provided  with  necessities  ;  in  mili- 
tary stores  they  were  almost  destitute  of  resources. 
Their  number  although  much  exaggerated,was  indeed 
considerable,  but  chiefly  of  Militia.  The  Associated 
States  had  not  been  organised  ;  their  government 
had  not  then  taken  root.  If  ever  there  was  a  time, 
then  it  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  war.  Yet  here,  in 
a  time  so  auspicious,  what  was  your  conduct?  With 
an  army  of  25,000  men  in  the  full  powers  of  health, 
discipline  and  valour,  ably  appointed,  amply  pro- 
vided, after  routing  with  great  slaughter  your  enemy 
from  their  most  advanced  posts,  whence  they  had 
fled  in  utmost  confusion,  where  they  had  lost  two  of 
their  generals  and  a  number  of  their  best  officers, 
and  panic-struck  retired  into  their  works,  when  your 
troops  showed  as  you  say,  'a  determined  courage 
never  before  exceeded,'  when  their  pursuit  was  close 
to  the  enemy's  retreat,  when  you  declared  'it  was 
apparent  that  it  would  have  been  carried,'  what  was 
your  conduct  at  this  critical  hour  ?  ...  If  you 
were  not  determined  to  protract  the  war,  if  you  had 
no  eye  to  lucrative  motives,  your  conduct  betrayed 
the  grossest  ignorance."  ' 

Long  Island  was  still  felt  to  be  ground  of  the 
greatest  importance.  Governor  Trumbull — "  Brother 
'  Life  of  Peter  Van  Schaack,  pp.  161-84. 


IN  POSSESSION  OF   THE  ENGLISH.  413 

Jonathan  " — now,  as  before  the  battle,  was  in  con- 
stant negotiation  with  Washington  and  with  the 
Connecticut  Association  in  reference  to  her  affairs. 
September  9th,  he  wrote  to  the  Massachusetts 
Assembly  of  the  "  vast  importance  of  preventing 
the  Ministerial  army  taking  the  benefit  of  the  stock 
on  Long  Island  and  availing  themselves  of  that  post. 
To  prevent  the  total  reduction  of  the  inhabitants  is, 
I  apprehend,  a  matter  of  more  consequence  to  the 
Common  Cause  than  we  can  easily  imagine.  To  dis- 
lodge the  enemy  from  Long  Island  and  to  destroy 
the  ships  in  the  Sound  might  at  one  blow  in  the 
greatest  measure  relieve  our  bleeding  country  from 
its  impending  danger."  ' 

Long  Island  was  now  in  possession  of  the 
English.  After  the  Battle  of  Brooklyn,  each  town 
called  Town  Meetings  which  made  a  formal  surren- 
der of  the  Island  to  Lord  Howe.  Yet  there  was  by 
no  means  the  harmony  assumed  in  this  quotation 
from  Jones :  "  The  Committees  on  Long  Island 
now  surrendered,  returned  to  th^ir  allegiance,  re- 
newed their  oaths,  and  once  more  became  his  Ma- 
jesty's loyal  subjects.  Instantly  all  ^^as  peace  and 
quietness ;  the  loyal  were  eased  of  their  fears  and 
delivered  from  the  tyranny  of  their  persecutors,  the 
disloyal  repented  of  their  crimes  and  returned  to 
their  duty  and  Long  Island  became  an  Asylum  for 
the  Loyalists  to  which  they  fled  from  all  parts  of 
the  Continent  for  safety  and  protection,  to  avoid 
oppression  at  least  if  not  murder."  ° 

'  Am.  Archives.,  sei-ies  v.,  vol.,  ii.,  p  256. 

'  Hist.  New  York  during  the  Revolution,  vol.  ii.,  p.  115. 


414  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  divided  allegiance  of  Long 
Island  subjected  the  people  of  either  side  to  equal 
harassment,  and  the  irascible  Judge  contradicts  the 
above,  as  he  elsewhere  writes  of  afiairs  with  the 
acerbity  with  which  he  regarded  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  the  war.  General  Howe,  he  tells  us, 
spent  three  weeks  on  Long  Island :  "  After  the 
decisive  Battle  of  Brookland,'  his  troops  continually 
plundered  the  inhabitants  of  those  parts  where  they 
were  encamped.  He  placed  his  army  in  different 
positions  in  King's  County  and  the  westernmost 
part  of  Queen's.''  This  done,  a  little  plunder  was 
connived  at,  or  rather  encouraged  than  discouraged 
by  some  of  the  principal  officers  of  the  Army.  The 
Hessians  bore  the  blame  at  first,  but  the  British  were 
equally  alert."  Jones  further  denounces  the  policy 
of  the  King  and  his  Cabinet :  "  Rebels  were  to  be 
converted  ;  Loyalists  to  be  frowned  upon.  Procla- 
mations were  to  end  an  inveterate  rebellion  ;  an 
opposition,  the  most  unprincipalled  opposition  in 
England  was  to  be  pleased  ;  the  powers  and  patron- 
age of  the  Commissioners  in  charge  to  be  con- 
tinued, that  Quartermasters,  Commissaries,  &c.  might 
enrich  themselves  by  amassing  large  fortunes  out  of 
the  public.'" 

'  He  left  Newtown,  September  14th. 

^  De  Heister  was  on  Brooklyn  Heights  ;  a  brigade  at  Bedford  and 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Newtown,  Bushwick,  Flushing,  and  Hellgate. 
General  Robertson  had  his  headquarters  there  with  ten  thousand 
men  encamped  in  the  fields.  ^ 

'  After  the  Battle  of  Brooklyn  the  farmers  of  Kings  County  were 
forced  to  furnish  the  horses  and  wagons  needed  by  the  army.  For 
these  no  payment  was  ever  made — "  through  the  manoeuvres  of  the 
Quartermaster, "  says  Jones. 


SECESSION  OF  COW  NECK.  415 

The  English  soldiers  were  indiscriminate  in  their 
raids,  plundering  alike  both  friend  and  foe.  Even 
when  the  forces  were  withdrawn  except  from  scat- 
tered outposts  on  the  Sound,  a  guerilla  warfare  pre- 
vailed for  more  than  seven  years.  There  was  no 
peace  here  until  long  after  the  exile  of  many  of  the 
best  people  and  the  final  adjustment  of  a  definitive 
treaty  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 
But  there  were  left  wounds  too  deep  to  heal  quickly, 
and  even  now,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  a  century, 
some  party  watchword  will  still  crimson  an  old  scar. 

During  the  years  of  actual  conflict,  the  state  of 
Long  Island  could  not  easily  have  been  worse.  Not 
only  was  county  arrayed  against  county,  and  the 
townships  one  against  another,  but  a  town  was  for- 
mally divided  within  itself,  and  in  many  a  homestead 
rich  in  the  cumulative  associations  of  sixscore  years, 
brothers  staked,  on  opposite  sides,  their  lives  and  all 
that  was  dearer.  Such  a  division  was  made  even  in 
Hempstead,  most  loyal  of  the  loyal  townships.  The 
North  Side  was  open  to  influences  from  Connecticut, 
and  so  it  was  that  a  year  before  this,  decisive  action 
had  been  taken  : 

"  At  a  Meeting  of  us  the  Inhabitants  of  Great 
Neck  and  Cow  Neck  and  all  such  as  lately  belonged 
to  the  Company  of  Captain  Stephen  Thorne  in 
Queen's  Co.  being  duly  warned  on  Saturday  the  23rd 
Sept.,  1775,  and  taking  into  serious  consideration  our 
distressed  and  calamitous  situation,  and  being  fully 
convinced  of  our  total  inability  to  pursue  proper 
measures  foi;  our  common  safety,  while  we  in  all 
cases  are  considered  a  part  of  the  town  of  Hemp- 


4i6 


EASLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


stead,  and  being  conscious  that  self-preservation,  the 
immutable  law  of  Nature,  is  indispensable,  do 
therefore 

"  Resolve  first,  that  During  the  present  conflict,  or 
so  long  as  their  conduct  is  inimical  to  freedom,  we 
will  be  no  further  considered  as  a  part  of  the  town- 
ship than  is  consistent  with  peace,  liberty  and  safety, 
therefore,  in  all  matters  relative  to  the  Congres- 
sional Plan,  we  shall  consider  ourselves  as  an  entire 
separate,  independent  beat,  or  district. 
"  Res.  secondly,  that 

Mr.  Daniel  Kissam 

"     Henry  Stocker 

"     Wm.  Thorne 

"     Benj.  Sands 

"     Wm.  Cornwell 

"     John  Cornwell 

"     John  Mitchell,  Sen. 

"     John  Burtess 

"     Samuel  Sands 

"     Martin  Schenck 

"     Dan  '1  Whitehead  Kissam 

"     Peter  Onderdonk 

"     Adrian  Onderdonk 

"     Thos.  Dodge 

be  a  committee  for  this  beat,  or  district 

"John  Farmer, 

"  Clerk  of  the  Meeting. 
"  October  4tli,  1775." 

This  document  sent  to  the  Provincial  Congress 
elicited  high  approval  and  was  ordered  to  be  en- 
grossed on  their  books.' 

'  Journal  of  New  York  Provincial  Congress,  vol.  i.,  p.  173. 


"A  JVESr  OP  NOXIOUS  VERMIN."  \X>J 

The  Congress  exercised  an  inquisitorial  guard  over 
Hempstead,  a  watch  intensified  by  the  virulent  zeal 
of  many  of  its  agents.  In  March,  1776,  Daniel 
Whitehead  Kissam  being  examined  before  that  body, 
says  that  "  On  Saturday  last,  at  the  house  of  Rich- 
ard Smith  in  Herricks,  he  met  Captain  Jacob  Mott 
and  that  the  said  Mott  informed  him  he  had  been 
arrested  by  order  of  Col.  Sears  and  sworn  :  that 
the  examinant  saw  a  copy  of  the  oath  administered 
to  the  said  Jacob  Mott  and  others,  and  that  he  asked 
the  said  Mott  why  he  did  not  produce  his  clearance 
from  the  Congress,  and  the  said  Mott  had  said  that 
he  had  offered  it  to  Mr.  Sears  and  he  would  not 
look  at  it.  .  .  .  That  Mr.  Sears  had  with  him  a 
number  of  the  armed  soldiers  and  that  the  soldiers 
brought  up  the  people  to  be  sworn.  That  the  people 
of  Cow  Neck  and  Great  Neck  2.rt.xa.Vic!a.  dissatisfied  at 
this  proceeding  and  think  there  is  no  safety ;  that 
the  people  of  Hempstead  and  at  the  South  Side  are 
distressed,  and  that  he  is  of  opinion  that  such  pro- 
ceedings tend  to  convert  Whigs  to  Tories'' ' 

But  this  same  Committee  of  Cow  Neck  was  not 
distinguished  for  moderation.  In  their  records  of 
March  18,  1776,  it  is  written, 

"  Whereas  sundry  disaffected  persons  have  lately 
moved  into  this  Neighbourhood  whereby  this  Dis- 
trict instead  of  being  an  Asylum  for  the  Good  and 
Virtuous,  is  become  a  nest  of  these  noxious  vermin, 
it  has  therefore  become  a  part  of  prudence  and  in  its 
effects,  of  necessity  to  put  an  end  to  such  proceed- 

'  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  v.  p.  3^1. 


41 8  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

ings  in  future  by  the  most  speedy  &  effectual  meas- 
ures for  the  publick  good. 

"  Be  it  therefore  resolved  that  no  manner  of  per- 
son after  the  first  of  April  next  presume  to  move 
into  this  district  without  producing  to  this  Commit- 
tee, a  certificate  signed  by  the  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee from  whence  they  last  removed,  of  their  being 
friendly  to  the  cause  of  their  bleeding  country. 

"  Benj.  Sands, 

"Chairman."' 

A  week  later,  March  27,  this  autocratic  Committee 
passed  an  act  of  excommunication  against  one  of 
their  neighbours : 

"  Whereas  Israel  Rogers  one  of  the  disarmed 
in  this  district  being  since  charged  with  the 
counteracting  the  measures  carrying  on  for  the 
preservation  of  American  liberty,  on  examination, 
the  Complaint  appeared  well  founded  &  it  was 
therefore  the  opinion  of  this  Committee  that  the 
said  Israel  Rogers  be  held  in  bond  for  his  good  be- 
havior. But  on  the  resistance  of  this  order,  it 
became  the  part  of  expediency  to  reprobate  this  vile 
man  as  an  enemy  to  his  country,  and  unworthy  the 
least  protection  ;  and  do  hereby  strictly  enjoin  all 
manner  of  persons  in  this  District  immediately  to 
break  off  every  kind  of  civil,  mechanical  and  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  this  deluded  and  obstinate 
person,  or  they  will  answer  the  contrary  at  their 
peril. 

"Benj.  Sands."  = 

'  Am.  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol,  v.,  p.  406. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  518. 


ABUSE   OF  MEETING-HOUSES.  419 

Martial  law  had  been  proclaimed  throughout  Long 
Island,  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Union  was  re- 
quired not  only  from  those  whose  loyalty  was  un- 
shaken, but  from  those  who  held  as  legitimate  the 
authority  of  the  Convention  of  New  York  and  of 
the  Continental  Congress.'  Many  Whigs  complied 
through  fear;  others  sought  refuge  within  the 
American  lines  in  Westchester  and  in  Connecticut. 
The  British  army  became  the  resort  of  criminals 
and  desperadoes,  as  well  as  of  the  conscientiously 
conservative.  Many  of  the  latter  class  suffered 
greatly  from  the  extortions  of  those  who  should 
have  been  their  protectors.  The  exactions  of  the 
British  ofificers  were  unreasonable  in  the  extreme ; 
woods  were  cut  down,  fences  stolen,  purveyance 
enforced,  and  soldiers  quartered  in  private  houses. 
At  Huntington,  at  Babylon,  and  at  Foster's 
Meadow  the  meeting-houses  were  torn  down  to 
furnish  material  for  building  barracks.  At  Hemp- 
stead, the  Presbyterian  Meeting-house  was  turned 
into  soldiers'  quarters  and  Saint  George's  Church 
used  as  a  storehouse.  The  stones  from  the  village 
burying-ground,  where  were  crowded  the  graves  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty  years,  were  torn  up  to  be 
used  as  hearth-stones  and  in  building  ovens.  The 
Dutch  Churches  at  Brooklyn,  Flatbush,  Flatlands, 
New  Utrecht,  Gravesend,  Bushwick,  Jamaica,  and 
Newtown,  the  Presbyterian  house  at  Newtown,  and 

'  General  Howe  after  the  Battle  of  Brooklyn  wrote  Lord  George 
Germaine  that ' '  The  Inhabitants  of  Long  Island  are  in  general  loyal ; 
they  were  forced  into  rebellion,  and  received  the  army  with  open 
arms  as  their  deliverers." 


420  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

the  old  Quaker  Meeting-house  at  Flushing  were 
used  as  hospitals,  as  prisons,  or  as  barracks  from 
1776  to  1783, 

After  the  escape  of  the  American  army  from 
Brooklyn,  the  British  found  many  of  the  cattle  the 
Whigs  had  taken  from  the  Loyalists  to  prevent  their 
use  by  the  invaders.  Notice  was  given  to  the  own- 
ers to  claim  them,  to  prove  loyalty,  and  to  take  them 
away.  This  was  allowed  in  case  of  milch  cows  and 
yearlings,  but  all  fat  cattle  were  retained  for  the  use 
of  the  army  with  promises  of  ample  payment.  "  But," 
says  Jones  in  review  of  the  campaign,  "  in  violation 
of  his  word  [General  Howe's],  in  breach  of  honour 
and  of  the  public  faith  by  him  pledged,  not  a  man 
ever  received  a  farthing.  Some  of  the  applicants 
were  damned  for  rebels,  and  ordered  about  their 
business ;  others  were  threatened  with  the  Provost 
for  their  impudence."  The  property  of  Loyalists 
appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  army,  "  was  charged 
to  the  Crown  at  a  round  price,  which  if  fame  speaks 
truth  was  equally  divided  between  the  immaculate 
general  who  commanded  at  the  time,  and  the  yet 
more  immaculate  Charnier." 

Pillaged  alike  by  friends  and  foes,  by  the  ofificers 
of  the  King  for  whom  they  had  risked  all,  by  the 
kinsmen  and  neighbours  from  whom  they  had  dif- 
fered in  opinion,  suffering  equally  from  rebel  depreda- 
tions and  the  license  of  the  royal  army,  the  Loyalists 
of  Long  Island  passed  through  ten  anxious,  sorrow- 
ing years.  The  details  of  ravage  and  oppression 
from  either  side  come  down  in  contemporary  jour- 


PETER  ONDERDONK'S  NOTE-BOOK.  42I 

nals/  in  family  letters  and  traditions,  and  are  attested 
in  the  Town  Books  whose  entries  were  made  through- 
out these  troublous  times. 

So  also,  the  Whigs  suffered  when  near  a  military 
post,  or  when  a  brief  ascendancy  gave  courage  to 
their  opposers.  Just  before  the  Evacuation  of  New 
York,  Sir  Guy  Carleton  told  the  farmers  of  Long 
Island  that  if  they  would  bring  in  their  bills  for  sup- 
plies furnished  to,  or  taken  by,  the  army,  he  would 
see  them  paid.  The  claims  were  to  be  laid  before  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  in  the  several  townships,  and 
when  certified  to  be  presented  to  the  Board  of 
Claims  in  New  York.  In  Suffolk  County  these  docu- 
ments were  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Town  Clerk  of 
Huntington.  The  claims  of  Huntington  were  based 
on  receipts  from  British  officers  for  ;^7249-9-6.,  a 
sum  deemed  not  a  quarter  of  the  amount  due."  But 
the  Board  of  Claims  adjourned  before  the  bills  could 
be  presented,  and  no  adjustment  was  ever  made. 

The  Note-book  of  Peter  Onderdonk  of  Flower 
Hill  gives  terse  comment  upon  passing  events : 

"  I779>  April  12.  Be  it  remembered  that  18 
Frenchmen   [Canadian  wood  cutters]  were  billeted 

'  See  Rivington's  Gazette,  Gaine's  Mercury,  and  Holt's  Journal 
for  account  of  the  daily  depredations  occurring. 

''  Examples  of  the  claims  are  as  follows  : 

"Nov.  12,  1777.  Zophar  Piatt's  ox-team  was  pressed  by  Major 
Cochran  to  carry  the  boards  ripped  off  his  barn  from  Huntington  to 
Jericho.  The  Major  also  took  40  lbs  of  butter  from  his  wife  and 
carried  it  to  Col.  Tarleton's  Quarters  without  pay.'' 

" 1780.     Taken  from  Annanias  Carle  by  Col.  Tarleton,  a  fat 

beast  worth  £2^.     No  pay." 


422  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

on  me  in  order  to  cut  all  the  wood  belonging  to 
Wm.  Cornell  and  Richard  Sands. 

'  Where  Tyranny  holds  up  its  head 
There  glorious  Liberty  is  fled.' 

"  1782,  Nov.  13.  Captain  Westerhagen  came  here 
with  his  Co.  to  quarters  (A  German  hireling)  &  with 
violence  drove  my  sick  daughter  Eliza  with  Jannetje 
Rapalje  out  of  their  sick  beds.  Ingratitude!  He 
quit  his  quarters  here  Jan.  7,  1783 — a  German  hire- 
ling !  " 

Then,  as  ever  in  war,  the  burden  fell  heavily  on 
women.  Freelove  Birdsall  was  wife  of  the  lawless 
whaleboater,  Captain  Benjamin  Birdsall.  His  rob- 
beries reacted  on  his  family,  and  with  her  little  chil- 
dren, his  wife  was  compelled  to  seek  safety  in 
Dutchess  County.  The  simple  pathos  with  which, 
writing  from  Dover,  she  addressed  the  Convention 
for  relief,  expressed  the  anguish  of  many  a  suffering 
mother,  loyal  or  whig  :  "A  heart  full  of  trouble  has 
been  my  fare  since  the  Island  was  given  up."  She 
appended  a  certified  list  of  the  cattle,  etc.,  taken  by 
"  the  King's  troops  and  the  Tories,  the  worst," 
adding  :  "  They  have  plundered  my  House  of  many 
valuable  things ;  left  me  many  hard  Curses  and 
threats  about  my  Reble  husband  &  but  just  a 
living." ' 

In  the  fall  of  1776,  October  i6th,  a  petition  was 
presented  to  the  Howes "  to  restore  civil  power  in 

'  Hist,  MSS.  Am.  Revolution^  vol.  ii. ,  p.  239. 
^  See  Appendix  iv.,  p.  507. 


ADDRESS  TO  GOVERNOR  TRYON.  423 

place  of  the  military  rule  which  prevailed  over  Long 
Island.  Its  writers  were  much  condemned  for  its 
servile  style,  but  it  was  not  consciously  so ;  it  was 
written  merely  in  the  conventional  language  of  the 
time.  The  memorial  was  courteously  received  by 
Lord  Howe,  who  promised  a  reply  after  consultation 
with  his  brother.  Sir  William.  But  no  answer  was 
ever  given.  Judge  Jones  sums  up  the  injustice  of 
the  case,  saying :  "  On  Long  Island  were  the  richest 
countries  of  the  province  ;  they  paid  two-thirds  of 
all  provincial  taxes  laid  in  the  Colony,  and  contained 
about  60,000  inhabitants  including  refugees.  The 
laws  of  the  land  should  have  governed  the  whole. 
All  power  should  have  been  vested  in  Civil  Magis- 
trates. General  Assemblies  have  been  called,  and 
everything  put  on  the  same  footing  as  before  the 
Declaration  of  Independence." 

Two  months  after  the  Battle  of  Brooklyn,  October 
2ist,  the  people  of  Queens  County  addressed  his 
Excellency,  William  Tryon,  Governor  of  the  Pro- 
vince of  New  York : 

"  We,  the  Freeholders  and  inhabitants  of  Queen's 
County  are  happy  once  again^  to  address  your  Ex- 
cellency in  the  capacity  of  Governor  of  the  Province. 
Anxiously  do  we  look  forward  to  the  period  when 
the  disobedient  shall  return  to  their  duty  and  the 
ravages  of  war  cease  to  desolate  this  once  flourishing 
country,  and  that  we  may  be  restored  to  the  King's 
most  gracious  protection,  we  entreat  your  Excel- 
lency to  present  our  Petition,  and  rely  on  your 
known  humanity  and  benevolence  for  the  exertion 
of    your   influence   in   behalf   of    the  well-affected 


424  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

County  of  Queens  that  it  may  again  in  the  bosom 
of  peace  enjoy  the  royal  favour  under  your  Excel- 
lency's paternal  care  and  attention.  Signed  by  desire 
and  in  behalf  of  the  freeholders  of  Queens. 

"  David  Golden." 

The  petition  follows,  bearing  the  names  of  nearly 
thirteen  hundred  men. 

In  November,  Kings  County  sought  to  make 
peace  with  the  royal  commissioners,  and  addressed 
to  them  a  similar  document : 

"  Your  Excellencies,  by  your  Declaration  bearing 
date  July  14,  1776,  were  pleased  to  signify  that  the 
King  is  desirous  to  deliver  his  American  subjects 
from  the  calamities  of  war&  other  oppresions  which 
they  now  undergo,  and  to  restore  the  Colony  to  his 
protection  and  peace,  and  by  a  subsequent  Declara- 
tion dated  Sept.  19,  1776,  having  been  also  pleased 
to  express  your  desire  to  confer  with  his  Majesty's 
well-affected  subjects  on  '  the  means  of  restoring  the 
public  tranquillity  and  establishing  a  permanent 
union  with  every  Colony  as  part  of  the  British 
empire.' 

"  We,  therefore,  whose  names  are  hereunto  sub- 
scribed, freeholders  and  inhabitants  of  King's  County 
in  the  Province  of  New  York,  reflect  with  the  ten- 
derest  emotion  of  gratitude  on  this  instance  of  his 
Majesty's  paternal  goodness  and  encouraged  by  the 
affectionate  manner  in  which  his  Majesty's  gracious 
purpose  has  been  conveyed  to  us  by  your  Excel- 
lency, who  has  hereby  evinced  the  humanity  and 
those  enlarged  sentiments  which  form  the  most 
shining  characters,  beg  leave  to  represent  to  your 


THE  KING'S  COUNTY  ADDRESS.  425 

Excellency  that  we  bear  true  allegiance  to  our  right- 
ful sovereign,  King  George  the  Third,  as  well  as 
warm  affection  to  his  sacred  person,  crown  and 
dignity,  to  testify  which,  we  and  each  of  us  have 
voluntarily  taken  an  oath  before  Wm.  Axtell, 
Esq.,  one  of  his  Majesty's  Council  for  this  Province 
in  the  following  words,  viz.: — /  do  sincerely  promise 
and  swear  T  will  be  faithful  and  bear  true  allegiance 
to  his  Majesty  King  George  the  Third  and  that  I  will 
defend  his  crown  and  dignity  against  all  persons  what- 
soever.    So  help  me  God. 

"  That  we  esteem  the  constitutional  supremacy  of 
Great  Britain  over  these  Colonies  and  the  other  de- 
pending parts  of  his  Majesty's  dominion  as  essential 
to  the  union,  security  and  welfare  of  the  whole 
empire,  and  sincerely  lament  the  interruption  of 
that  harmony  which  formerly  subsisted  between  the 
parent  state  and  these  her  Colonies.  We  therefore 
humbly  pray  that  your  Excellency  will  be  pleased 
to  restore  this  County  to  his  Majesty's  peace  and 
protection." 

This  Memorial  is  signed  by  four  hundred  and  fifty 
names.' 

A  little  later,  December  3d,  the  County  Com- 
mittee and  the  committees  of  the  townships,  assem- 
bled in  the  church  at  Flatbush,  assured  Governor 
Tryon  that  they  "  regret  and  disclaim  all  powers  of 
Congress,  totally  refusing  obedience  to  it  as  repug- 
nant to  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the  British 
Empire,  undutiful  to  our  Sovereign  and  ruinous  to 
the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  country." 
'  See  Appendix  v.,  p.  525. 


426  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

The  American  cause  was  at  low  ebb  during  the 
fall  and  early  winter.  Even  Connecticut  was  willing 
to  retrace  her  steps.  In  December,  "  the  General 
Court  released  all  prisoners ;  but  the  Governor  ap- 
pointed and  empowered  a  committee  to  proceed  to 
New  York  to  make  submission  to  the  King,  and  if 
possible  preserve  their  charter  from  forfeiture,  their 
estates  from  confiscation  and  persons  from  attain- 
der." '  The  victory  at  Trenton  changed  the  aspect 
of  affairs  and  the  proposed  submission  was  never 
made. 

There  is  much  of  interest  in  the  letters  of  Gov- 
ernor Tryon  to  Lord  George  Germaine  written  at 
this  time  ° : 

"Dec.  24, 1776. 

"My  Lord: 

On  the  i6th  Inst.  I  received  the  Militia 
of  Queen's  County  at  Hempstead  where  800  men 
were  mustered  and  on  the  Thursday  following,  I 
saw  the  Suffolk  Militia  at  Brookhaven  where  near 
800  men  applied,  to  all  of  whom,  as  well  as  the 
Militia  in  Queen's  Co.  I  have  in  my  presence  admin- 
istered an  oath  of  allegiance  and  fidelity. 

"  I  took  much  pains  in  explaining  to  the  people 
the  iniquitous  Artts,  ettc.  that  have  been  practised 
on  their  credulity  to  reduce  &  mislead  them,  and  I 
have  had  the  satisfaction  to  observe  among  them  a 
general  return  of  confidence  in  the  government.  A 
very  large  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Queen's 
Co.  have  indeed  steadfastly  maintained  their  Royal 

'  Jones's  ^zj^.  New  York  during  the  Revolution,  vol.  i.,  p.  135. 
'  See  Remembrancer,  vol.  iii.,  part  ii.,  p.  293. 


GOVERNOR  TRYON'S  LETTERS.  427 

principles  as  have  small  districts  in  Suffolk  Co. 
Some  men  from  Southhampton  and  Easthampton 
townships  who  attended  the  Review  assured  me  that 
Rebel  parties  from  Connecticut  were  then  on  the 
Easternmost  part  of  the  Island,  which  prevented  in 
general  the  settlers  from  attending  my  summons, 
but  they  are  very  desirous  to  live  in  peaceable 
obedience  to  his  Ma''*s  authority. 

"  Three  Companies  I  learned  have  been  raised  out 
of  Suffolk  Co.  for  the  Rebel  Army,  most  of  which  I 
was  made  to  understand  would  quit  the  service  if 
they  could  get  home. 

"  I  have  the  pleasure  to  assure  your  Lordship 
that  through  the  whole  of  the  town,  I  did  not  hear 
the  least  murmer  of  discontent,  but  a  general  satis- 
faction expressed  at  my  coming  among  them,  and  to 
judge  from  the  temper  &  disposition  I  perceived 
among  them,  there  is  not  the  least  apprehension  of 
any  further  commotion  from  the  Inhabitants  of 
Long  Island.  All  are  industrious  in  bringing  to 
Market  what  Provisions  the  Island  affords. 

"  While  on  Long  Island  I  gave  a  certificate  to 
nearly  300  men  who  signed  the  Declaration  pre- 
sented by  the  King's  Commissioners  in  the  Procla- 
mation of  the  30th  of  November  last.  Large  bodies 
of  the  people  have  already  taken  the  benefit  of  the 
grace  therein  offered  them." 

Again  he  writes  from 

"  New  York,  20.  Jan.  1777. 

"  My  Lord  : 

I  have  solicited  Gen.  Howe  to  give  me 
800  stands  of  arms  for  the  Loyal  Inhabitants  in 


428  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Queen's  Co.  which  he  was  pleased  to  grant  &  ac- 
cordingly last  week  they  were  sent  to  Col :  Ludlow  to 
distribute  among  the  more  faithful  subjects.' 

"  The  Inhabitants  of  King's  Co.  through  the  rec- 
ommendation of  Mr.  Axtel,  a  member  of  the  King's 
Council,  and  Col :  of  the  Militia  of  that  county,  have 
contributed  ^yx)  toward  the  raising  of  Col :  Fan- 
ning's  Battalion  of  Provincials.  This  laudable  spirit 
I  shall  encourage,  and  have  already  recommended 
to  the  Society  of  Quakers  to  distinguish  their 
Loyalty  &  zeal  by  Acts  of  Liberality  in  furnishing 
the  Provincial  corps  with  some  necessary's  of  Cloth- 
ing of  which  they  are  in  great  want." 

The  NewYork  Gazette  of  March  31st  gives  the  fol- 
lowing: "On  Thursday  last,  Thomas  Willett,  Sheriff 
of  Queen's  Co.  attended  by  a  number  of  gentlemen, 
waited  upon  his  Excellency,  Governor  Tryon,  with 
an  added  expression  of  their  warm  attachment,  and 
regret  at  his  leaving  the  country,  hoping  that  he 
may  be  restored  to  health  and  again  return  to  gov- 
ern a  loyal  and  grateful  people  in  dignity  and  happi- 
ness, to  which  his  Excellency  made  a  respectful 
answer." 

In  June,  Governor  Tryon  writes  that  "  His  Majes- 
ty's approbation  of  the  conduct  of  the  Militia  of 
King's  Co.  in  raising  a  sum  of  money  for  the  en- 
couragement of  Col :  Fanning's  Battery  encouraged 
me  to  forward  the  spirit  among  the  Districts  of  the 
Province  within  the  limits  of  the  Army.     Queen's  & 

'  On  February  nth  he  writes  :  "  They  were  received  with  demon- 
strations of  joy  and  the  professed  determination  to  use  them  in  the 
defence  of  the  Island." 


A  TTITUDE  OF  THE  MONTA  UK  INDIANS.     429 

Suffolk  Counties  are  now  forming  contributions  for 
the  comfort  and  encouragement  of  the  Provincial 
troops." 

About  this  time,  Guy  Johnson  wrote  to  Lord 
Germaine  :  "  I  have  had  an  interview  with  the 
Montok  Indians  on  Long  Island,  who  though  few 
in  number  and  surrounded  by  disaffected  people  have 
offered  their  services  whenever  the  General  would 
please  to  make  use  of  them."  The  opportunity  did 
not  come,  and  the  Long  Island  Indians  took  no  part 
in  the  war. 

During  the  winter  which  followed  the  Battle  of 
Brooklyn,  the  end  seemed  near  to  the  waiting 
Loyalists,  and  the  result  certain.  The  Reverend 
Joshua  Bloomer  writes  from  Jamaica  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  S.  P.  G.  in  April :  "  I  feel  myself  happy 
to  have  it  in  my  power  to  write  from  a  land  restored 
from  Anarchy  and  confusion  to  the  blessings  of 
Order  and  good  Government.  The  arrival  of  the 
King's  Troops  and  their  success  on  this  Island, 
have  rendered  every  Loyal  subject  of  whom  there 
are  a  great  many  here,  happy.  Previous  to  that 
event  the  Rebel  Army  which  was  quartered  at  New 
York,  had  assumed  the  whole  Power  and  their  Gov- 
ernment was  in  the  highest  degree  Arbitrary  and 
tyrannical.  Loyalty  to  our  Sovereign  was  in  their 
judgment  the  worst  crime  and  was  frequently  pun- 
ished with  great  severity." 

"  The  principal  members  of  my  congregation  who 
had  conscientiously  refused  to  join  in  their  measures 
excited  their  highest  resentment.  Their  homes  were 
plundered,  their  persons   seized,  some  were   com- 


430  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

mitted  to  prison,  others  sent  under  a  strong  guard 
to  a  distant  part  of  Connecticut  where  they  were 
detained  as  prisoners  for  several  months.  .  .  . 
The  services  of  the  Church  also  gave  great  offence, 
the  Prayers  for  the  King  and  the  Royal  Family 
being  directly  repugnant  to  their  independent 
scheme,  they  bitterly  inveighed,  and  frequently  by 
threats  endeavoured  to  intimidate  the  minister  and 
to  cause  him  to  omit  those  parts  of  the  Liturgy."  ' 

General  Howe's  forces  were  gradually  withdrawn 
from  the  Island.  The  Loyalists  believed  they  were 
to  be  protected  by  the  troops  raised  on  Long  Island 
by  Oliver  de  Lancey."  Raised  ostensibly  for  its 
defence,  the  commission  bore  the  words,  "  or  other 
exigencies,"  which  phrase  permitted  their  with- 
drawal, or  justified  any  license.  The  first  battalion 
of  the  brigade  was  under  the  command  of  General 
de  Lancey,  with  John  Harris  Cruger  as  lieutenant- 
colonel.  After  a  winter  at  Oyster  Bay  it  was 
ordered  to  King's  Bridge,  but  later  returned  to 
Long  Island  and  was  stationed  at  Huntington.  The 
second  battalion,  under  Colonel  George  Brewerton, 
had,  as  next  in  command,  the  General's  eldest  son, 
Stephen  de  Lancey.  The  battalion  was  sent  to 
Georgia  under  Colonel  Campbell  and  distinguished 
itself  in  the  Southern  campaigns.  Colonel  Stephen 
de  Lancey  succeeded  Major  Andrd  as  Adjutant  and 

'  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  vol.  iii. ,  p.  338. 

'^  Oliver  de  Lancey,  descendant  of  the  noble  Huguenot  immigrant, 
Etienne  de  Lancey,  raised  three  battalions  of  fifteen  hundred  men. 
They  were  formed  into  a  brigade  of  which  he  was  general.  At  the 
close  of  the  war,  General  de  Lancey  went  to  England  and  died  at 
Beverly,  Yorkshire,  in  1785,  in  his  seventieth  year. 


THE  ENCAMPMENT  AT  JAMAICA.  43 1 

finally  became  Barrack-master  of  the  British  Empire. 
The  third  battalion,  under  Colonel  Gabriel  Ludlow 
and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Richard  Hewlett,  was  made 
up  entirely  of  Queens  County  men.  At  different 
times  during  the  war,  it  was  stationed  at  Lloyd's 
Neck,  at  Oyster  Bay,  at  Herricks,  Hempstead,  Flat- 
bush,  and  Jamaica.  It  was  sent  to  Brookhaven  in 
the  Suffolk  County  expedition,  and  sometimes 
crossed  to  the  Connecticut  main,  for  plunder,  to  aid 
refugees,  or  to  obtain  recruits.  Of  its  commanding 
officers,  their  neighbour,  Judge  Jones,  says :  "  They 
were  well-esteemed  on  the  Island  ;  resolute,  bold,  and 
intrepid.  Zealous  loyalists  from  principle,  and  both 
had  been  sufferers  in  the  cause  of  their  King." 

In  1778,  the  brigade  was  ordered  elsewhere  and 
the  people  told  to  raise  militia  companies  and  take 
care  of  themselves.  General  de  Lancey's  head- 
quarters had  been  at  Jamaica  in  the  house  of  the 
Reverend  Matthias  Burnett,  and  later,  at  Waters 
Smith's.  Mr.  Burnett  was  the  only  Presbyterian 
minister  in  the  Province  who  was  a  friend  to  the 
Crown.  As  a  Loyalist,  he  was  allowed  to  preach 
throughout  the  war,  and  his  influence  alone  saved 
the  Meeting-house  from  destruction,  but  after  the 
Peace,  such  was  the  vindictive  spirit  of  the  victorious 
that  he  was  then  obliged  to  leave  his  parish  and 
home. 

Jamaica  was  occupied  by  British  troops  during 
the  entire  war,  and  was  especially  thronged  in 
winter.  On  the  hillsides  north  of  the  village,  rows 
of  huts  thatched  with  reeds  and  sedge,  or  covered 
with  sods,  extended  for  a  mile  east  and  west,  with 


432  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

cross-streets  between.  The  parade-ground  lay  be- 
tween the  huts  and  the  village.  The  surrounding 
hills  covered  with  heavy  forest  were  entirely  bare 
before  the  end  of  the  war. 

In  this  inactive  service,  the  officers  amused  them- 
selves in  ways  little  in  accord  with  the  state  of  the 
country.  Rivington's  Gazette  of  August  13,  1779, 
makes  the  following,  one  of  many  similar  announce- 
ments :  "  A  number  of  excellent  fox-hounds  having 
been  with  great  difficulty  collected,  there  will  be 
Hunting  every  Monday,  Wednesday  and  Thursday 
on  Hempstead  Plains.  One  guinea  subscription  to 
those  who  wish  to  partake  of  this  amusement.  Half 
a  guinea  for  a  bag  fox  delivered  to  Cornet  Staple- 
ton  at  Hempstead.     Highest  price  for  dead  Horses." 

Bull-baitings  and  other  "good,  old  English  sports  " 
were  attempted.  In  November,  1780,  three  days' 
games  in  honour  of  the  King's  birthday  were  held 
at  Ascot  Heath  on  Flatland  Plains.  A  purse  of 
sixty  pounds,  a  saddle,  bridle,  and  whip,  were  the 
prizes  for  the  winning  horses.  A  foot-race  was  to 
be  run  by  women,  for  a  "  Holland  smock  and  a 
chintz  gown  worth  four  guineas."  The  regimental 
bands  played  "  God  save  the  King "  every  hour. 
At  Christmas  and  at  Easter  were  similar  sports. 

Hempstead,  the  most  loyal  town,  suffered  more 
than  any  other,  both  from  the  incursions  of  the 
whale-boat  men,  and  from  the  ravage  of  the  royal 
army.  The  village  was  then  a  hamlet  of  but  nine 
houses,  besides  the  churches  and  the  three  taverns. 
In  1778,  the  Seventeenth  Light  Dragoons  were  sta- 
tioned there  under  Colonel  Birch,  than  whom   no 


OTHER  DEPREDATIONS.  433 

officer  was  more  execrated.  The  Presbyterian 
Meeting-house  was  taken  as  barracks,  later  used  as  a 
guard-house,  as  a  prison,  and  finally,  removing  the 
floor,  it  was  turned  into  a  riding-school.  In  1779, 
the  Meeting-house  in  the  loyal  District  of  Foster's 
Meadows  was  torn  down  by  Colonel  Birch,  who 
wished  its  material  for  military  use.  At  Fort  Neck, 
the  "Refugees  House,"  belonging  to  Thomas  Jones, 
in  which  he  had  sheltered  a  band  of  homeless 
Loyalists,  was  burned.  "  The  Cage "  at  Hemp- 
stead had  been  built  as  a  town-jail.  Colonel  Birch 
wished  it  as  a  wash-house,  but  the  Justice,  Samuel 
Clowes,  declared  that  "  it  belonged  to  the  Town,  and 
could  only  be  given  up  by  vote  of  the  Town." 
Birch  replied  that  "  their  consent  was  quite  imma- 
terial, he  should  have  the  Cage."  A  whipping-post 
was  put  up  beside  the  old  grave-yard  and  daily 
used. 

Every  winter,  the  Queen's  Own,  and  the  Sixteenth 
Light  Horse,  as  well  as  the  Seventeenth,  were  quar- 
tered at  Hempstead,  and  often,  in  the  summer,  the 
horses  of  a  regiment  were  frequently  turned  into 
fields  of  freshly-headed  oats,  or  of  clover  ready  for 
the  scythe.  Just  before  the  Evacuation  of  New 
York,  Colonel  Birch  collected  two  thousand  sheep 
on  Hempstead  Plains,  and  cutting  off  their  ears, 
called  on  the  owners  to  prove  property.  As  this 
was  then  impossible,  he  sold  them  for  £2.000,  re- 
tained as  a  personal  perquisite. 

The  regiments  landed  at  Whitestone  by  General 
Clinton,  on  his  return  from  the  expedition  against 
the  French  fleet  under  Rochambeau  in  the  summer 


434  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

of  1780,  plundered  the  country  round.'  Going  into 
winter  quarters  at  Flushing,  Jamaica,  and  Newtown, 
the  devastation  continued.  Farmers  were  obliged 
to  hide  their  poultry,  sheep,  and  swine  in  their  cel- 
lars. When  the  troops  left  Flushing  in  the  spring, 
David  Colden  said  there  "was  not  a  four-footed 
animal  but  dogs,  nor  a  wooden  fence  left  in  town." 

Lloyd's  Neck,  Huntington,  and  Setauket  were  par- 
ticular points  of  rendezvous  and  of  attack.  The  for- 
mer was  occupied  by  the  British  during  the  entire 
war.'      In  1778,  a  fort — Fort  Franklin,  named  for 

'  On  the  high  ground  in  Flushing  village,  was  a  beacon  pole  (where 
the  Methodist  church  now  stands),  one  of  a  series  to  carry  the  alarm 
to  Jamaica,  where  were  most  of  the  British  army,  should  the  French 
attempt  to  land  on  the  Island, 

^  With  what  result  is  shown  in  the  following  letter  of  John  Lloyd, 
Jun.,  to  the  Supervisors  of  Queens  County,  written  from 

"  QUEENVILLB,  Nov.  I5,  I784. 

"  Gentlemen  : 

Since  I  was  at  Jamaica  at  the  meeting  of  the  Supervisors 
of  Queen's  Co.  I  have  made  a  very  exact  calculation  of  the  ability  of 
Queen's  Village,  compared  with  its  former  situation  and  am  fully  of 
the  opinion  it  will  not  bear  =<  valuation  of  more  than  one  third  of 
what  it  was  before  the  war. 

' '  I  have  no  doubt  you  would  be  of  the  same  opinion  were  you  to 
be  on  the  spot  and  view  the  horrid  waste  and  depredation  committed 
by  a  vindictive  and  cruel  enemy. 

"  Our  timber  and  fences  are  all  gone  and  our  buildings  except  the 
house  I  live  in  which  is  entirely  out  of  repair,  so  much  so  as  to  be 
unfit  for  the  reception  of  tenants. 

"  Being  well  assured  that  you  will  do  justice  to  the  Proprietors,  I 
shall  add  but  that  I  am ,  gentlemen 

"  Your  most  obedient 

"  Humble  Servant 

"  John  Lloyd,  Jun." 
— Historical  Magazine,  series  iii.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  43. 


OCCUPATION  OF  LLOYD'S  NECK.  435 

William  Franklin — was  built  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Neck,  overlooking  the  beautiful  Oyster  Bay.  Three 
years  later  it  was  given  over  to  the  Associated 
Loyalists.'  Thither  came  for  a  brief  visit  Prince 
William  Henry,  Duke  of  Clarence,  afterward  "  the 
Sailor  King,"  then  a  boy  of  seventeen  on  board  the 
Prince  George^ 

Just  before  the  war,  the  Lloyds  had  cleared  a  hun- 
dred acres  of  the  primeval  forest  growth.  On  this 
expanse  lay  the  parade-ground,  while  sloping  to  the 
south  were  the  cabins  and  gardens  of  the  soldiers, 
or  later  of  the  eight  hundred  Refugees  assembled 
there  in  the  spring  of  1781.  On  July  12th  of  that 
year  the  Neck  was  attacked  by  a  force  sent  from 
Newport  by  the  Comte  de  Barras,  consisting  of 
three  frigates  bearing  two  hundred  and  fifty  men, 

■  "  The  Honourable  Board  of  Associated  Loyalists,"  organised 
December  28,  1780,  with  Governor  William  Franklin  as  President, 
was  formed,  at  the  suggestion  of  Lord  Germaine,  of  refugees  within 
the  British  lines.  Jones  says  :  ' '  They  were  licensed  for  indiscrimi- 
nate plunder  ;  of  the  rebels  first,  but  if  they  were  not  handy,  of  the 
neutrals  and  loyalists."  Three  societies  were  formed  ;  that  on  Long 
Island  devoted  itself  to  the  plunder  of  the  Connecticut  coast.  "  The 
Board  cost  the  Government  at  least  ;^30,ooo  a  year. " — Jones,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  300. 

^  Rivington's  Royal  Gazette,  August  7,  1782,  gives  account  of  a 
ceremony  at  Flushing,  where  on  August  ist  the  Prince  reviewed  and 
presented  colours  to  the  King's  American  Dragoons,  Colonel  Ben- 
jamin Thompson,  about  leaving  for  Huntington.  A  canopy  was 
erected  on  ten  columns,  twenty  feet  in  height,  under  which  were  the 
young  Prince,  Admiral  Digby,  and  many  distinguished  officers.  Four 
mounted  troops,  and  two  unmounted,  defiled  before  them.  "  A 
semi-circular  bower  was  erected  for  the  ladies  present. "  An  ox  was 
roasted  whole,  "  spitted  on  a  hickory  sapling  twelve  feet  long,  sup- 
ported on  crotches  and  turned  by  handspikes." 


436  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

and  several  Connecticut  whale-boats.  They  landed 
in  the  early  morning,  but  retreated  before  the  un- 
expected strength  of  the  place  without  venturing 
an  attack. 

Huntington,  from  its  convenient  harbour  and  as 
the  outlet  of  a  richly  wooded  country,  was  a  most 
important  post.  In  1777,  the  provincial  troops 
under  De  Lancey  were  stationed  there.  The  old 
Meeting-house,  built  in  1665,  rebuilt  fifty  years 
later,  was  made  a  depot  for  military  stores,  while 
the  soldiers  wrought  havoc  with  the  cherished  li- 
brary of  the  old  and  vigorously  patriotic  pastor,  the 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Prime,  and  spread  terror  through  the 
village.  All  contemporaneous  records  and  local  tra- 
ditions emphasise  the  gratuitous  and  wanton  insults 
endured  by  Huntington.  But  the  soldiers  of  the 
Crown  were  not  alone  in  offering  insults  to  their 
opponents.  A  letter  is  preserved  '  written  at  Hunt- 
ington, July  23,  1776,  giving  an  account  of  the 
rejoicings  over  the  news  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. The  Declaration,  and  the  Resolutions  of 
the  Provincial  Congress,  were  read,  "  applauded  by 
the  animated  shouts  of  the  people  who  were  present 
from  all  the  distant  quarters  of  this  District.  After 
which  the  flag  which  used  to  wave  on  the  Liberty 
Pole  having  '  Liberty  '  on  one  side,  and  ^George  III.' 
on  the  other,  underwent  a  reform,  i.e.,  the  letters 
'George  III.'  were  discarded,  being  publickly  ripped 
off,  and  then,  an  effigy  of  the  person  represented  by 
those  letters  being  hastily  fabricated  out  of  base 
material,  with  its  face  black,  like  Dunmore's  Virginia 
Regiment,  its  head  adorned  with  a  wooden  crown 
'^  Am.  Archives,  series  v.,  vol.  i.,  p.  543. 


BENJAMIN  THOMPSON  AT  HUNTINGTON.  437 

and  stuck  full  of  feathers  like  Carleton's  and  John- 
son's  savages,  and  its  body  wrapped  in  the  Union 
instead  of  a  robe  of  State,  and  lined  with  gunpowder 
which  the  original  seems  to  be  fond  of — the  whole, 
together  with  the  letters  above  mentioned,  was  hung 
on  a  gallows,  exploded  and  burned  to  ashes.  In  the 
evening,  the  Committee  of  this  town  with  a  large 
number  of  the  principal  inhabitants  sat  around  the 
general  board  and  drank  thirteen  patriotic  toasts." 

In  June,  1779,  General  Tryon  was  at  Huntington 
on  his  return  from  Fairfield,  but  their  direst  woe  was 
in  1782,  under  the  brief  command  of  the  accom- 
plished Colonel  Benjamin  Thompson.*  Then  the 
old  Meeting-house  was  torn  down,  and  its  timber 
used  in  building  a  fort  upon  "  Burying  Hill,"  where 
the  line  of  earthworks  may  still  be  faintly  traced.' 

'  Later,  eminent  in  science  as  Count  Rumford.  One  of  the  last 
official  acts  of  Lord  Germaine,  was  the  commission  of  his  under  sec- 
retary as  lieutenant-colonel,  to  raise  a  body  of  cavalry  for  service  on 
Long  Island.  Much  undeserved  reproach  has  fallen  on  this  able 
man.  Benjamin  Thompson,  exiled  from  his  early  home,  owed  little 
to  New  Hampshire  or  to  Massachusetts,  but  forgetful  of  undeserved 
expatriation,  the  Count  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  chose  his  title 
from  the  little  village  on  the  Merrimac,  and  bequeathed  to  Harvard 
College  a  fund  equivalent  to  $26,000,  to  endow  a  "  Professorship  of 
Applied  Science,"  to  teach  the  utility  "  of  the  physical  and  mathe- 
matical sciences  and  for  the  improvement  of  the  useful  arts  and  the 
extension  of  the  industry,  prosperity  and  weU-being  of  society.'' 
(Rumford's  will,  Sept.  28,  1812.)  He  also  devised  to  "  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  of  America,  all  his  Books,  Plans  and  De- 
signs relating  to  military  matters  to  be  deposited  in  the  Library  or 
Museum  of  the  Military  Academy  of  the  United  States  as  soon  as 
such  Academy  shall  have  been  established  in  the  United  States.'' 

"  Huntington  met  but  the  inevitable  fate  of  war.  See  Ellis's  Life 
of  Rumford,  pp.  128-45,  which  quotes  the  partisan  accounts  of  Silas 
Wood,  Nathaniel  Prime  and  others,  but  with  a  more  just  and  favour- 
able interpretation  of  Colonel  Thompson's  course. 


438  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

In  August,  1777,  Colonel  Richard  Hewlett,  with 
two  hundred  and  sixty  Queens,  County  Loyalists, 
had  fortified  himself  in  the  Presbyterian  Meeting, 
house  at  Setauket.  Breastworks  six  feet  high  were 
raised  at  the  distance  of  thirty  feet,  and  four  swivel 
guns  were  mounted  in  the  building.  Colonel  Abra- 
ham Parsons,  chief  of  the  whale-boat  privateers  from 
whose  forays  no  Loyalist  was  safe,  crossed  the  Sound 
from  Fairfield  with  three  boats.  His  force  num- 
bered perhaps  five  hundred  men.'  Landing  on 
Crane's  Neck  before  the  earliest  dawn,  they  dragged 
a  small  cannon  through  the  sand  in  their  silent  march 
to  the  slightly  stockaded  church.  An  insolent  de- 
mand for  unconditional  surrender  was  curtly  refused. 
"  I  will  stand  by  you  as  long  as  there  is  a  man  left," 
said  Hewlett  to  his  men.  The  assailants  fired  a  vol- 
ley which  was  as  quickly  returned  by  the  besieged, 
and  a  fierce  contest  was  only  averted  by  the  ru- 
moured approach  of  a  British  fleet,  at  which  report 
Parsons  hastily  fled. 

But  shortly  before  the  attack  on  Setauket,  Colonel 
Meigs,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  Quebec,  and 
was  then  on  parole,  set  out  May  2d  from  Sachem's 
Head  (now  Guilford,  Connecticut)  with  four  hun- 
dred men.  They  descended  upon  Sag  Harbour, 
attacked  and  stripped  a  foraging  party  of  De  Lan- 
cey's  Brigade,  numbering  seventy,  and  made  their 
escape  "  without  the  loss  of  a  man."  General  Par- 
sons, writing  from  New  Haven,  three  weeks  later,  to 
Governor  Trumbull,  says  in  substance  that  Colonel 

'  The  number  is  variously  estimated  from  one  hundred  and  fifty 
(Onderdonk)  to  one  thousand  (Jones). 


ATTACK  ON  FORT  ST.   GEORGE.  439 

Miegs  left  Sachem's  Head  with  one  hundred  and 
sixty  men.  He  landed  three  miles  from  Sag  Har- 
bour an  hour  after  midnight,  and  attacked  the  enemy 
in  five  places,  while  Colonel  Troop  took  possession 
of  the  vessels.  An  English  schooner  of  twelve  guns 
kept  up  a  constant  fire  for  an  hour.  The  Americans 
burned  all  vessels  in  the  harbour,  "  killed  and  capti- 
vated all  men,"  destroyed  one  hundred  tons  of  hay, 
much  grain,  ten  hogsheads  of  rum  and  sugar,  and 
took  ninety-nine  prisoners.  Congress  voted  a  sword 
to  Colonel  Meigs  in  approval  of  this  exploit. 

In  the  summer  of  1780,  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  who 
the  previous  year  had  ridden  through  Long  Island  to 
review  the  troops  at  Southampton,  established  a  post 
on  the  Tangiers-Smith  Manor  of  St.  George  on 
Great  South  Bay.  About  two  hundred  Refugees 
from  Rhode  Island  were  assembled  there.  They 
lived  by  plundering  the  country  round,  and  the 
commander-in-chief  gave  no  attention  to  the  com- 
plaints of  the  inhabitants,  who  finally  appealed  to 
Connecticut  for  help.  In  November,  eight  boats 
under  Colonel  Benjamin  Tallmadge  left  Fairfield, 
and  landing  at  Old  Man's,  marched  to  Fort  St. 
George.  The  fort  was  surprised  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  demolished,  its  stores  destroyed,  and 
fifty-four  prisoners  taken.  Colonel  Tallmadge  re- 
turned by  way  of  Coram  where  he  burned  three 
hundred  tons  of  hay.  The  next  year  he  surprised 
and  burned  Fort  Slongo  on  Tredwell's  Bank,  Smith- 
town. 

Private  houses  were  often  the  object  of  the  whale- 
boat  raids.  The  residence  of  Colonel  Gabriel  Ludlow, 


440  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

and  of  his  brother  Judge  George  Duncan  Ludlow,' 
near  Hyde  Park,  were  attacked  by  a  party  of  thirty 
men  in  August,  1779.  They  were  robbed  of  money, 
plate,  furniture,  and  slaves,  while  the  owners  were 
taken  prisoner  to  Connecticut.  Three  times  the 
house  of  the  King's  Justice,  Thomas  Smith  of 
Centre  Island,  was  broken  open  and  plundered. 
Richard  and  John  Townsend,  William  Nicoll,  Colo- 
nel Richard  and  Benjamin  Floyd  were  other  suffer- 
ers. At  one  time,  June  30,  1781,  forty  men  under 
Major  Fitch,  by  order  of  Governor  Trumbull,  landed 
at  the  foot  of  Cow  Neck.  Half  the  party  marched 
four  miles  inland  to  the  house  of  Justice  Kissam, 
where  they  took  prisoners  his  son.  Major  Kissam, 
his  brother-in-law,  Dr.  Benjamin  Tredwell,  and  a 
neighbour,  Thomas  Piersoll.  They  were  taken  to 
Stamford  and  thence  to  Wethersfield,  where  they 
were  kept  on  parole  until  exchanged  in  the  following 
October. 

The  whale-boat  men  not  only  ravaged  the  North 
Side,  but  would  drag  their  boats  across  the  portage 
at  Canoe  Place,  and  entering  Great  South  Bay,  cap- 
ture the  craft  engaged  in  trade  with  New  York. 
Vain  were  appeals  to  Admiral  Howe  for  protection. 

'  George  Duncan  Ludlow  was  appointed  Judge  in  1769.  He  had 
been  in  business  in  New  York,  but  later,  "  purchased  a  genteel  farm 
in  Queen's  Co.  and  retired  to  the  pleasures  of  a  country  life."  He 
was  descended  from  General  Ludlow  of  Cromwell's  army,  and 
"  though  he  possessed  all  the  virtues  of  his  ancestor,  he  inherited 
neither  his  enthusiasm,  his  Republican  principles,  nor  his  Presbyte- 
rian religion." — Jones's  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  i.,  p.  231. 

Judge  Ludlow's  house  was  finally  burned  by  accident  in  1817, 
while  the  residence  of  William  Cobbett. 


COMMISSION  OF  WHALEBOATERS  REVOKED.      44 1 

"  He  chose  to  keep  his  cutters  at  sea,"  says  the  dis- 
gusted Jones.  With  each  year  the  ravages  of  the 
whale-boaters  grew  worse.  In  a  letter  to  Governor 
Clinton,  August  20,  1781,  Caleb  Brewster,  after  de- 
scribing minutely  their  outrages,  ends  by  saying : 
"  There  is  not  a  night  but  they  are  over,  if  boats  can 
pass ;  a  person  cannot  ride  the  roads  but  they  are 
robbed."  Much  of  it  was  mere  freebooting  for  private 
ends,  and  although  under  commission  from  Governor 
Trumbull,  so  indiscriminate  and  so  cruel  were  they 
in  their  plunder  that  the  Convention  of  New  York 
requested  that  the  commission  be  revoked  within 
New  York.' 

In  1777,  June  12th,  the  Long  Island  Refugees  at 
Saybrook  addressed  the  Committee  of  Safety  at 
Esopus,  to  remind  the  Committee  of  previous  peti- 
tions for  relief :  "  Our  distress  is  daily  increasing, 
our  wants  constantly  multiplying,  the  strictest  prohi- 
bition of  passing  to  Long  Island  to  get  over  any- 
thing to  support  ourselves  on  &  little  or  nothing  be 
had  here  for  paper  Currency  &  hard  money  we  have 
not.  Harvest  is  approaching  and  some  or  most  of 
us  have  bread-corn  growing  on  our  land.  We  cannot 
but  flatter  ourselves  that  your  sentiments  will  con- 
cur with  ours,  that  if  we  may  by  your  addressing 
the  Governor  and  Counsellors  of  this  State  obtain 
Permits  to  pass  &  Repass  as  opportunity  may  pre- 
sent, to  take  over  to  the  Relief  of  our  families  the 

'  "August  7,  1791.  Resolved,  That  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York  be,  and  he  is  hereby  desired  immediately  to  revoke  the  said 
Commissions  by  him  granted,-so  far  as  they  authorise  the  seizure  of 
goods  on  Long  Island,  or  elsewhere  on  land  not  within  the  State  of 
Connecticut." 


442  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

forage  which  will  otherwise  fall  into  the  possession 
of  more  than  savage  Enemies.  We  hope  the  laws 
of  self-preservation  will  operate  so  that  we  may- 
escape  the  hands  of  the  Enemy  &  give  our  suf- 
ferings some  Relief." 

Some  attempts  at  retaliation  were  made  by  the 
Loyalists.  In  1779,  General  Silliman  was  captured 
at  Fairfield  and  brought  to  Lloyd's  Neck.  Thence 
he  was  taken  to  New  York,  and  finally  to  Flatbush, 
where  he  was  detained  until  exchanged  for  Thomas 
Jones,  the  jurist,  and,  in  his  later  years,  the  piquant 
historian  of  the  war.  In  order  that  there  might  be 
a  prisoner  of  equal  importance  to  exchange  for 
General  Silliman,  Judge  Jones  was  deliberately  cap- 
tured,— his  third  imprisonment.  November  4th,  a 
party  of  twenty-five  men  from  Newfield  Harbour 
(now  Bridgeport)  crossed  the  Sound  and  at  night 
marched  across  the  Island  to  Fort  Neck,  the  ances- 
tral seat  of  the  family.  There,  during  the  progress 
of  a  ball,  they  seized  the  host  and  carried  him  to 
Middletown.  The  exchange  was  not  effected  until 
the  following  May. 

No  regiment  in  the  royal  service  was  more  dis- 
tinguished than  the  Queen's  Rangers,  under  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel John  Graves  Simcoe,  later  Governor 
of  Canada.  Organised  in  the  neighbourhood  of  New 
York,  it  enrolled  more  than  six  hundred  Loyalists. 
Of  the  various  regiments  made  up  in  America,  it 
had  the  exclusive  and  valued  privilege  of  enlisting 
both  "  old  country  men  "  and  deserters  from  the 
rebel  army. 

The  Military  Journal  of  Colonel  Simcoe,  covering 


SIMCOE  AT  OYSTER  BAY.  443 

more  than  five  years  of  service,  gives  many  details 
of  his  Long  Island  campaigns.  He  was  sent,  in  the 
fall  of  1778,  from  King's  Bridge  to  winter  quarters 
at  Oyster  Bay.  The  fort  to  which  he  came  was  on 
high  ground  south  of  the  village.  It  had  been  built 
in  1776  by  De  Lancey's  New-Raised  Corps  to  pro- 
tect the  harbour  froni  privateers  and  whale-boaters. 
After  Simcoe's  departure  it  was  occupied  by  Fan- 
ning's  Corps,  under  Major  Grant,  and  in  the  summer 
of  1783  by  Richard  Hewlett. 

The  day  after  his  arrival,  November  19th,  Simcoe 
writes  :  "  The  whole  corps  was  employed  in  cutting 
fascines.  There  was  a  centrical  hill  which  totally 
commanded  the  village :  the  outer  circuit  of  this  hill 
in  the  most  accessible  places  is  to  be  fortified  by 
sunken  flieches  and  abatis  ;  the  summit  was  covered 
by  a  square  redoubt.  The  Guard-house  in  the 
centre  cased  and  filled  with  sand,  was  rendered 
musket-proof.  Twenty  men  will  sufifice  for  its 
defence." 

Soon  after,  Sir  William  Erskine  came  to  Oyster 
Bay,  intending  to  remove  the  corps  to  Jamaica  to 
replace  his  own  regiment  ordered  to  the  East  of  the 
Island.  Colonel  Simcoe  represented  strongly  the 
need  of  maintaining  the  post  at  Oyster  Bay,  a  coigne 
of  vantage  which  enabled  him  to  watch  the  Sound, 
while  quietly  learning  the  sympathies  of  the  in- 
habitants. There  was  but  a  small  garrison  under 
Colonel  Ludlow  at  Lloyd's  Neck,  twelve  miles  east- 
ward. The  nearest  camp  was  at  Jamaica,  thirty 
miles  distant.  The  situation  was  "  an  anxious  one 
and  required  all  vigilance  and  a  system  of  diligence 


444  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

to  prevent  an  active  enemy  from  taking  advantage 
of  it." 

Simcoe  remained  at  Oyster  Bay  until  the  middle 
of  the  next  May,  1779,  when  he  was  transferred  to 
Westchester  County.  The  winter  had  been  one  of 
unusual  mildness,  peach-trees  blooming  in  March, 
and  the  Queen's  Rangers  had  been  daily  drilled  in 
feats  of  horsemanship  and  all  military  exercises. 
The  post  was  an  important  one,  not  merely  as  a 
central  depot  for  the  forage  collected  for  New  York, 
but  as  a  training-schools  where  new  recruits  were 
taught  their  various  manoeuvres.  Before  leaving 
America,  General  Howe  announced  as  a  special 
mark  of  royal  favour  that  his  Majesty  was  pleased 
to  make  permanent  the  rank  of  the  Loyalist  officers, 
and  the  Queen's  Rangers  became  the  First  American 
Regiment. 

In  August,  Simcoe  returned  and  the  corps  was 
reinforced  by  Colonel  Dremar's  Hussars  and  a  troop 
of  Buck's  County  Dragoons.  The  constant  drill  of 
both  infantry  and  cavalry  continued  through  the 
fall.  They  held  themselves  in  readiness  to  relieve 
Lloyd's  Neck,  which  was  expecting  attack.  Its 
capture  and  the  possession  of  the  Sound  was  the 
partial  object  of  that  expedition  against  New  York 
which  was  intended  on  the  arrival  of  D'Estaing's 
fleet  from  the  West  Indies.  On  October  9th,  the 
troops  were  ordered  to  be  ready  for  embarkation,  to 
be  transferred  to  points  where  they  would  be  more 
available  in  the  defence  of  New  York.  Ten  days 
after,  Colonel  Simcoe  went  with  the  cavalry  to 
Jamaica,    and   a  week    later    the    infantry,    under 


THE  MARCH  EASTWARD.  445 

Tarleton,  followed,  marching  to  Yellow  Hook, 
whence  they  crossed  to  Staten  Island. 

The  next  summer  Simcoe  returned  to  Oyster  Bay. 
Under  orders  to  open  a  land  communication  with 
the  fleet  in  Gardiner's  Bay,  he  moved  eastward  in 
the  latter  part  of  July,  joined  by  a  hundred  mounted 
militia  from  Huntington.  After  having  advanced 
some  distance  beyond,  they  fell  back  to  Coram, 
where  they  remained  a  fortnight,  but  on  August 
15th  they  again  marched  forward  and  were  joined 
by  the  King's  American  Regiment,  which  had  been 
ordered  to  River  Head.  There  he  met  Sir  Henry 
Clinton  on  his  way  to  a  conference  with  Admiral 
Arbuthnot,  whose  fleet  was  anchored  off  Shelter 
Island.  Clinton  sent  Colonel  Simcoe  forward  as  his 
representative,  but  the  Admiral  had  sailed  before  his 
arrival.' 

The  Queen's  Rangers  returned  to  Oyster  Bay 
August  23d.  They  had  undergone  a  most  fatiguing 
march  of  nearly  three  hundred  miles  in  extremely 
hot  weather.  They  had  expected  to  "  subsist  on 
the  country,"  and  as  much  of  their  way  lay  through 
the  pine  barrens,  they  had  found  great  difficulty  in 
getting  provisions.  A  militia-dragoon  sent  express 
to  the  Adjutant-General,  was  waylaid  and  robbed  in 

'  So  says  Simcoe.  Jones,  in  his  condemnation  of  the  entire  con- 
duct of  the  war,  assures  us  that  the  dislike  of  Clinton  was  not  confined 
to  the  Loyalists  whom  he  betrayed  and  plundered,  nor  to  the  Whigs 
against  whom  he  fought.  He  made  a  progress  through  Long  Island 
under  protection  of  the  Seventeenth  Light  Dragoons,  in  order  to  meet 
Admiral  Arbuthnot  off  Southold,  but  Arbuthnot  declined  any  com- 
munication with  "  a  General  so  regardless  of  the  honour  and  dignity 
of  his  Sovereign  and  the  good  and  benefit  of  his  country.'' 


446  MARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

Smithtown.  Colonel  Simcoe  was  directed  to  levy- 
on  the  inhabitants  for  eighty  pounds,  of  which  "  one 
half  was  to  reimburse  the  militia-man  for  what  had 
been  taken  from  him,  and  the  other  to  recompense 
him  for  the  chagrin  he  must  necessarily  have  felt  at 
not  being  able  to  execute  his  orders.  This  was 
probably  the  only  contribution  levied  on  the  county 
during  the  war.  The  officers  of  the  Queen's 
Rangers  had  prided  themselves,  and  justly,  on  pre- 
venting, as  much  as  officers  "  by  precept,  example, 
and  authority  could  do,  all  plundering  and  maraud- 
ing." Being  cantonned  with  other  troops,  the 
depredations  committed  drew  on  the  Queen's  Rang- 
ers the  displeasure  of  Sir  Guy  Carleton.  The  corps 
left  Oyster  Bay,  September  23d,  going  to  Jamaica 
for  a  time.  Colonel  Simcoe  afterward  served  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  on  Christmas  Day,  1782,  his  regiment  was 
enrolled  in  the  British  army. 

Colonel  Simcoe's  toilsome  march  through  Suffolk 
was  not  the  first  military  invasion  of  the  county. 
"  The  Inhabitants  of  the  east  end  of  Long  Island 
were  chiefly  presbyterians,  consequently  republican, 
and  well-affected  to  the  Cause  of  Rebellion,"  says 
Jones.  Grazing  was  their  chief  pursuit,  and  in  Sep- 
tember, 1778,  General  Tryon,  with  General  de  Lancey 
second  in  command,  had  gone  there  to  secure  the 
large  herds  of  cattle.  A  month  was  spent  in  indis- 
criminate plunder  of  Loyalists  and  Whigs.  While 
the  officers  were  one  day  driving  with  Colonel  Ben- 
jamin Floyd  of  Brookhaven,  the  soldiers  robbed  his 
orchards  and  poultry  yards,  destroyed  his  grain,  and 
burned  his  fences.     The  cattle  needing  to  be  fat- 


GENERAL  TRYON'S  INVASION  OF  SUFFOLK.  447 

tened  were  marked  G.  R.  and  left  to  be  taken  the 
next  spring.  Then,  "  The  Yankees  crossed  the 
Sound  and  sent  them  to  feed  the  rebel  army  at 
Morristown." 

Long  Island  was  the  chief,  almost  the  only  source 
of  the  fire-wood  consumed  in  New  York  during  its 
long  occupancy  by  the  British  army.  A  regimental 
order,  dated  "  Innerswick,  near  Flushing,"  shows 
the  system  of  apportionment  used.  The  woodland 
from  Little  Neck  to  Cold  Spring  was  divided  into 
six  districts,  under  the  supervision  of  as  many  offi- 
cers. The  amount  assessed  to  the  various  land- 
owners for  that  year,  1781,  was  six  thousand  and  two 
cords.  The  owners  were  to  receive  £1■^%^  but  were 
never  paid."     Major  John  Kissam,  of   the  Queens 

'  For  orders  for  supplies  of  wood  and  hay,  see  Am.  Archives, 
series  v.,  vol.  ii.,  564-6.  The  scale  of  prices  for  wood,  per  cord, 
was  as  follows  : 

Oak.  Hickory. 

From  Flushing  to  Cow  Neck £'i.  j?4-io 

"     Cow  Neck  to  Huntington.            45  j.  70  j. 

"      Huntington  to  Setauket .. .            35  j-.  45 -f- 

Wood  to  the  value  of  ^60,000  was  taken  to  New  York  for  the  use 
of  the  army,  for  which  the  owners  received  nothing. 
The  range  of  price  for  hay  and  grain  is  shown  below. 
December,  1778. 
Upland  hay 8  s.  per  cwt.       Rye 10  s.  per  bu. 


Salt  "   4S. 

Straw 3  s. 

Wheat 26  s. 

Corn 10  s. 

Oats 7  s. 


"         Buckwheat 7  s. 

' '         Wheat  flour  ....     80  s. 

bu.        Rye  flour 30  s. 

' '         Buckwheat 25  s. 

"         Indian  meal....     28s. 
June,  1782. 
Good,  well  cured  English  hay  ....     6  s.  per  cwt. 

Salt  hay 3  s.  "     " 

Good  clean  straw 2  s.  3  d.     "     " 


cwt. 


448  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

County  Militia,  writes :  "  Should  any  be  so  obstinate 
as  to  refuse  to  cut  their  proportion  and  to  deliver  it 
at  the  appointed  place,  they  would  be  subject  to  a 
double  portion  cut  on  them." 

In  the  Clerk's  office  at  Nieuw  Utrecht,  is  the 
copy  of  a  proclamation  issued  June  i6,  1780,  by 
James  Robertson,  "  styling  himself  Captain-General 
and  Governor-in-Chief  of  the  Province  of  New  York," 
ordering  the  amounts  of  wood  for  the  barracks  in 
New  York  to  be  cut  and  delivered  before  August 
15th,  at  ten  shillings  the  cord;  for  Kings  County, 
1500  cords;  for  Queens  County,  4500  cords;  for 
Western  Suffolk,  3000  cords,  to  be  cut  on  the  lands 
of  the  notorious  rebels,  William  Smith  and  William 
Floyd.  Wood-yards  were  established  at  Jamaica, 
Flushing,  Newtown,  Hempstead  Harbour,  Oyster 
Bay,  Flatbush,  and  Brooklyn,  where  every  farmer 
was  expected  to  deliver  his  quota  of  wood.  The 
year  before,  when  General  Clinton  had  wished  to 
rebuild  and  to  add  to  the  number  of  Long  Island 
forts,  the  people  were  ordered  to  cut  from  their 
lands  and  bring  to  Brooklyn,  "  fascines,  faggots, 
planks,  logs,  paUsadoets,  etc.,"  for  which  no  payment 
was  made. 

The  Long  Island  farmers  were  required  to  deliver 
at  the  hay-yards  in  New  York,  half  of  all  the  hay, 
"  salt  or  upland,"  which  they  should  cut,  and  were 
solemnly  promised  the  safety  of  the  remainder. 
That  also  was  taken  from  them,  and  had  not  the 
winter  been  one  of  exceptional  mildness,  no  cattle 
could  have  survived.  Those  who  ventured  a  com- 
plaint of  the  breach  of  faith,  were   imprisoned  as 


SUSPENSION  OF  COURTS  OF  JUSTICE.       449 

"  contumacious."  Throughout  the  war,  horses  and 
oxen  were  taken  from  the  plough  for  the  use  of  the 
army,  and  if  returned  at  all  it  would  be  only  after 
the  season's  need  was  past.  Fifty  horses  were 
turned  into  the  orchard  of  a  Loyalist  among  heaps 
of  cider-apples  valued  at  two  hundred  pounds.  A 
hundred  horses  were  littered  with  the  newly  cut 
wheat  of  Israel  Oakley,  a  lieutenant  in  the  Queens 
County  Militia  under  General  Tryon. 

For  all  these  abuses  there  was  no  redress.  The 
courts  of  justice  were  closed,'  the  civil  law,  the 
law  of  England  and  of  the  Provinces,  was  super- 
seded by  military  power.  Justices  of  the  Peace 
were  permitted  to  try  cases  of  petty  larcency  only, 
but  were  obliged  to  act  officially  in  pressing  horses 
and  wood  for  the  use  of  the  army.  The  courts 
were  closed  in  Queens  County  from  September, 
1773,  until  May,  1784.  The  Whig  Committee  of 
Safety  served  in  lieu  thereof  until  August  27,  1776. 
Martial  law  then  prevailed  until  the  establishment 
of  peace. 

A  strange  interpretation  of  the  Prohibitory  Act 
of  November,   1775,"  forced  the  people  to  believe 

'  George  Duncan  Ludlow,  Thomas  Jones,  and  Whitehead  Hicks 
were  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Province.  The  first  two 
were  attainted  and  their  estates  confiscated.  The  third  escaped  that 
fate,  which  the  caustic  Jones  explains  by  saying  :  "  He  had  friends 
in  the  Assembly,  and  besides,  he  was  a  Presbyterian.  Such  was  the 
partiality  of  the  Rebel  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York." 

^  This  Act  related  only  to  commercial  affairs,  a  retaliation  for  the 
Act  of  Congress  forbidding  trade  with  Great  Britain.  (See  British 
Statutes  at  Large,  vol.  xxxi.,  p.  I35-)  It  was  never  intended  toapply 
to  Courts  of  Justice,  or  to  deprive  the  Colonies  of  any  of  the  privi- 
leges of  Englishmen,  but  the  military  authorities  declared  New  York 
a,  garrison,  and  that  only  military  law  could  there  exist. 


450  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

themselves  declared  rebels,  and  thus  led  the  more 
timid  to  accept  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
From  this  misconstruction,  "  first  adopted  by  Con- 
gress, brought  thence  and  propagated  in  New  York 
by  Galloway,  originated,"  says  Jones,  "all  the 
miseries,  disorders,  injustice,  plunder,  extortion  and 
a  thousand  other  unjust,  illegal,  arbitrary  acts,  en- 
dured by  the  loyal  more  than  60,000  within  the 
British  lines." 

Martial  law  thus  prevailed  until  the  establishment 
of  peace.  From  the  Battle  of  Brooklyn  until  July, 
1780,  there  was  no  pretence  at  the  administration  of 
justice  on  Long  Island.  General  Robertson,  "  by 
the  hocus-pocus  of  a  proclamation,"  then  estab- 
lished at  Jamaica  a  Court  of  Police,  of  which  Judge 
Ludlow,  called  "  the  little  tyrant  of  the  Island," 
was  made  Superintendent,  a  Court  pronounced  "  un- 
constitutional by  English  laws,  and  incompatible 
with  the  liberties  of  a  free  people," — a  Court  which 
tried  all  civil  cases,  and  criminal  cases  below  grand 
larceny,  without  a  jury  and  by  unsworn  judges. 

The  inconvenience  merely  was  a  serious  grievance 
to  the  people  of  Eastern  Nassau,  obliged,  to  collect 
a  small  debt,  to  travel  nearly  the  length  of  the 
Island,  at  much  expense  and  loss  of  time.  Judge 
Jones's  ire  over  the  removal  of  the  Justices  of  the 
Peace  was  hot,  and  not  without  cause.  "  By  what 
reason,"  he  asks,  "  common  sense  or  justice,  by 
what  rule  the  whole  of  the  Island,  and  all  of  Staten 
Island,  the  borough  of  Westchester  and  manors  of 
Morrissana  and  Fordham,  containing  above  60,000 
loyal  inhabitants  could  be  made  a  part  of  the  gar- 
rison and  the  whole  subject  to  military  law  and 


STEADFAST  LOYALTY  OF  QUEENS.  45 1 

arbitrary  Courts  of  Police,  deprived  of  Courts  of 
justice  and  the  laws  of  the  land  ?  " 

But,  despite  all  loss  and  contumely,  all  sufferings 
in  mind,  body,  and  estate,  the  better  class  remained 
unswerving  in  its  loyalty.  In  1780,  August  5th, 
Queens  County  addressed  General  Robertson  in  a 
document  which  expressed  the  general  feeling  of  the 
Island : 

"  The  principles  which  have  inspired  a  large 
majority  of  the  people  of  Queens  County  to  oppose 
the  beginning  and  progress  of  those  dangerous 
measures  that  have  led  that  county  to  the  most 
fatal  convulsions,  do  still  animate  us  to  promote  his 
Majest3''s  service  by  our  utmost  exertions  to  accel- 
erate the  happy  day  when  relations,  friends  and 
fellow-citizens  shall  re-embrace  each  other  and  return 
to  the  offices,  pleasures  and  employments  of  Peace, 
when  we  shall  enjoy  our  ancient  privileges,  partici- 
pate in  an  extensive  commerce,  be  exempt  from 
all  taxation  not  imposed  by  ourselves,  and  be  in- 
cluded in  one  comprehensive  system  of  felicity  with 
the  parent  country." 

Col.  Hamilton  '  John  Hewlett 

Major  Kissam  Joseph  French 

Valentine  Hewlett  Peters,  Esq.     Dr.  Seabury 
Daniel  Kissam,  Esq.  Capt.  Chas.  Hicks 

Thos.  Willet  "      Benj.  Hewlett 

Richard  Alsop  "      Chas.  Cornell 

Sam'l  Clowes  "      Theo.  Van  Wyck 

Thos.  Smith  "      Geo.  Rapalje 

Capt.  B.  Hoogland 

In  behalf  of  the  County." 
'  Colonel  of  the  Seventeenth  Queen's  County  Militia. 


452  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

With  the  havoc  of  war,  the  havoc  wrought  by 
either  side,  the  loyal  people  of  Long  Island  were 
opposed  by  a  more  insidious  foe.  The  legislation  of 
the  New  York  Assembly  bore  heavily  on  the  entire 
Southern  District,  but  was  especially  aimed  at  the 
friends  of  the  British  Government  in  Westchester 
County  and  on  Long  Island.  The  Act  passed  June 
30,  1778,  "  more  effectually  to  prevent  the  mischiefs 
arising  from  the  influence  and  example  of  persons 
of  equivocal  and  suspicious  character  in  this  State," 
was  virtually  an  Act  of  Banishment.  By  it  were 
expatriated  many  men  of  good  estate  and  of  the 
best  worth.  The  Act  of  Attainder  and  Confisca- 
tion passed  at  Kingston,  October  22,  1779,  by  the 
third  session  of  the  New  York  Legislature,  is  but 
vaguely  known,  and  there  have  been  many  futile 
attempts  at  its  palliation.  Nothing  can  be  said  in 
its  defence.  It  was  in  reality  an  ex  post  facto  law, 
while  the  persons  against  whom  it  was  aimed  show 
that  private  jealousies  and  the  possession  of  large 
estates  which  could  be  turned  to  public  uses,  were 
the  exciting  cause  of  this  legislation.  By  it  were 
adjudged  and  declared  guilty  of  felony,  and  "  to 
suffer  Death  as  in  cases  of  felony,  without  Benefit 
of  Clergy,"  for  "adherence  to  the  enemies  of  the 
State," — fifty-eight  of  her  best  inhabitants, — three 
were  women,  eminent  for  high  official  position, 
for  private  virtues,  and  for  distinguished  ability. 
Among  them  were  these  men  from  Long  Island : 
Thos.  Jones  George  Duncan  Ludlow 

David  Colden  Gabriel  Ludlow 

Daniel  Kissam         Richard  Floyd 
George  Muirson      Parker  Wickham. 


ACT  OF  ATTAINDER  AND   CONFISCATION.     453 

Besides  the  personal  attainder,  their  estates  and 
revenues  were  declared  forfeited  to  and  vested  in 
the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  this  disgraceful  Act  was 
not  passed  without  protest.  Drawn  up  by  John 
Morin  Scott,  it  originated  with  Sir  James  Jay,' 
Senator  for  the  Southern  District.  It  was  presented 
at  Poughkeepsie,  June  24,  1778,  but  the  session 
closed  on  the  30th  with  no  action  thereon.  The 
second  session  opened  at  Poughkeepsie,  October 
13th,  and  on  the  27th,  the  Bill  was  read  for  the  first 
time.  A  week  later,  the  Assembly  resolved  to  ad- 
journ until  January.  To  this  the  Senate  objected, 
being  "  anxious  to  have  passed  into  a  Law  during 
the  present  meeting  of  the  Legislature,  an  '  Act  for 
Confiscation  &  Forfeiture  '  then  depending  before 
them  " ;  but  they  finally  yielded,  and  the  Legisla- 
ture adjourned  until  January  27,  1779.  The  Bill 
was  brought  up  by  Mr.  L'Hommedieu  of  Suffolk" 

'  John  Jay,  little  suspecting  his  brother's  share  therein,  wrote 
Governor  Clinton  from  Madrid,  May  6,  1780:  "An  English  paper 
contains  what  they  call,  but  I  can  hardly  believe  to  be  your  Confisca- 
tion Act.  li  truly  printed,  New  York  is  disgraced  by  injustice  too 
palpable  to  admit  even  of  palliation." 

'  The  Long  Island  Members  of  the  Assembly  were  : 

William  Boenim  )    ^f  j^j^^^  bounty. 

Henry  Williams  ) 

Benjamin  Birdsall       j 

Benjamin  Coe  >■  of  Queens  County. 

Daniel  Lawrence         ) 

David  Gelston  ~] 

Ezra  L'  Hommedieu 

Burnett  Miller  \  of  Suffolk  County. 

Thos.  Tredwell 

Thos.  Wickes 


454  EASLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

on  the  next  day.  It  was  ordered  to  a  second  read- 
ing on  February  9th,  and  was  then  referred  to  a 
Committee  of  the  Whole.  It  was  passed  with 
amendments  by  the  Assembly,  on  the  27th,  and 
then  laid  before  the  Senate.  It  was  freely  discussed, 
but  all  attempts  by  the  more  moderate  men  to  soften 
its  severity  were  unavailing.  It  passed  the  Senate 
by  a  vote  of  ten  to  six.  On  March  14th,  the  Coun- 
cil of  Revision  presented  their  objections,  but  the 
Bill  was  passed  over  their  veto  by  a  vote  of  twenty- 
eight  to  nine.  In  the  Senate,  however,  the  Act 
received  only  a  vote  of  eight  to  seven,  and  thus  fail- 
ing of  a  two-thirds  majority,  the  measure  was  lost. 
The  Council  of  Revision,  through  their  Chairman, 
Chancellor  Livingston,  objected  to  the  Bill,  because 
"  repugnant  to  the  plain  and  immutable  Laws  of 
Justice ;  because  obscure  and  contradictory." 

At  the  Third  Session  of  the  Legislature,  meeting 
at  Kingston  in  August,  the  Bill  was  brought  up  on 
September  6th,  and  again  referred  to  a  Committee 
of  the  Whole.  It  passed  with  little  debate,  and 
became  a  law  on  October  22,  1779.  It  was,  how- 
ever, of  no  effect  until  after  the  Treaty  of  Peace, 
and  though  then  in  direct  opposition  to  Article 
Fifth,  its  provisions  were  at  once  relentlessly  carried 
into  effect. 

During  the  lingering  negotiation  of  the  Treaty 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  Long 
Island  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  British 
army  and  under  military  rule.  When  the  Peace 
was  formally  concluded.  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  the  last 
royal  Governor  of  New  York,  made  his  plans  for  the 


FEARS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  455 

removal  of  the  army :  "  I  propose  to  resign  posses- 
sion of  Herricks  and  Hempstead  and  all  to  the  east- 
ward on  Long  Island,  Nov.  21st."  The  Sixtieth 
Royal  American  Regiment  marched  out  of  Hemp- 
stead to  the  tune  of  "  Roslyn  Castle."  The  Hessians 
from  the  North  Side  came  through  Newtown,  "  fill- 
ing the  roads,"  brightened  by  their  varied  uniforms, 
the  Jager  Corps  in  green,  faced  with  crimson,  the 
foot  in  blue,  faced  with  white  with  yellow  waistcoat 
and  breeches.  The  evacuation  was  rapid.  In  Flush- 
ing, it  was  said :  "  In  the  morning  there  were  thou- 
sands of  soldiers  around.  In  the  afternoon  they 
were  all  gone,  and  it  seemed  lonesome."  In  Jamaica, 
one  day,  the  streets  were  patrolled  by  the  High- 
landers in  their  picturesque  garb ;  the  next,  the 
American  soldiers  were  there.  Some  delay  occurred 
from  the  lack  of  transports.  Even  after  the  Evacua- 
tion of  New  York,  November  25,  1783,  a  few  troops 
were  detained  at  New  Utrecht  and  at  Denyse's 
Ferry  until  December  4th. 

Nor  was  the  departure  of  the  army  unregretted.' 
Uncertainty  and  suspense  brooded  over  the  Island. 
There  was  a  vague  dread  of  what  was  to  come  from 
a  legislature  openly  hostile,  and  secretly  vindictive, 
while  they  who  should  have  been  their  protectors 
were  faithlessly  leaving  them  to  the  doubtful  mercies 
of  the  victors.  The  saddest  chapter  in  the  history 
of  Long  Island  was  yet  to  come. 

'  A  year  before,  the  people  of  New  Utrecht  addressed  the  Baron 
de  WoUzogen,  Commander  of  the  Brunswick  and  Hessian  troops 
stationed  there,  and  "beg  his  acceptance  of  their  warmest  thanks 
for  the  vigilant  and  attentive  care  which  they  have  received,"  and 
express  to  the  soldiers,  the  ' '  highest  sense  of  their  good  order  and 
decorum." — Remembrancer,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  267. 


XVIII. 

NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  PEACE. 

IT  had  long  been  evident  to  the  people  of  Great 
Britain,  if  not  fully  recognised  by  the  Govern- 
ment, that  the  war  was  wearing  itself  out. 
American  success  on  the  field  was  aided  by  the  dis- 
sensions in  Parliament,  and  the  popular  condemna- 
tion of  the  Ministry.  The  negotiations  for  peace 
dragged  their  weary  length  through  the  years  1782- 
83.  John  Adams  had  been,  originally,  the  one 
American  Commissioner.  The  French  Minister  was 
dissatisfied  with  his  tone,  and  Congress  had  added, 
successively.  Jay,  Franklin,  and  Laurens.'  Mr.  Jay, 
who  had  negotiated  the  Treaty  with  Spain,  did  not 
come  from  Madrid  until  the  last  of  June,  and  was 
then  ill  for  a  month.  Mr.  Adams,  detained  still  longer 
at  The  Hague,  did  not  reach  Paris  until  October 
26th,  after  the  triumphant  conclusion  of  an  alli- 
ance with    Holland.     Mr.    Laurens  had    been    cap- 

'  Jefferson,  then  under  heavy  sorrow  in  the  retirement  of  Monti- 
cello,  had  been  also  nominated,  but  the  negotiation  was  so  far  ad- 
vanced before  he  was  able  to  leave  America  that  his  appointment 
was  recalled,  and  his  only  connection  with  the  work  was  the  final 
presentation  to  Congress  of  the  Definitive  Treaty. 

456 


THE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  COMMISSION.       457 

tured  on  his  voyage  and  imprisoned  in  The  Tower, 
from  which  he  was  not  released  in  exchange  for  Lord 
Cornwallis  until  the  negotiation  was  nearly  finished. 
The  work  of  the  Commission  was  therefore  almost 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  Franklin,  the  most  able  and 
experienced  of  its  members,  the  most  subtle  and 
the  most  bitter  against  England.' 

England  was  represented  by  Richard  Oswald,  a 
shrewd  Scotch  merchant,  a  "  pacifical "  man,  a 
friend  of  Adam  Smith  who  had  introduced  him  to 
Lord  Shelburne.  In  October,  was  added  Mr. 
Strachey,  later  Sir  Henry,  and  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  under  the  brief  Rockingham  Ministry, 
known  and  trusted  as  thoroughly  judicious.  Lord 
Shelburne,  recently  Secretary  of  the  Home  Depart- 
ment, was  Prime  Minister  from  June,  1782,  until 
February,  1783.  His  instructions  to  Osborne  laid 
special  stress  upon  the  cause  of  the  Loyalists.  They 
trusted  him  implicity,  and  "  Shelburne  will  never 
give  up  the  Loyalists  "  was  their  constant  cry. 

It  was  July  10,  1782,  when  Franklin  gave  to 
Oswald  the  American  conditions  of  peace.  He  had 
already  proposed  that,  to  avoid  border  conflicts  and 
to  ensure  a  lasting  peace,  England  should  cede  to 
the  United  States  both  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia. 
The  United  States  would  then  be  able,  by  the  sale  of 

'  Franklin  was  so  esteemed  by  his  colleagues.  Adams  writes  in  his 
Diary,  October  27th  :  "  Franklin's  cunning  will  be  to  divide  us  ;  to 
this  end,  he  will  insinuate,  he  will  intrigue,  he  will  manoeuvre. 
My  curiosity  will  at  least  be  employed  in  observing  his  invention  and 
artifice.  Jay  declares  roundly  that  he  will  never  set  his  hand  to  a 
bad  peace.  Congress  may  appoint  another,  but  he  will  make  a  good 
peace  or  none." — Worhs  of  John  Adams,  vol.  iii.,  p.  300. 


458  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

wild  lands,  to  make  good  the  loss  of  private  property 
on  each  side,  either  through  confiscation  or  the  in- 
evitable ravage  of  war.  But  Shelburne  stoutly  in- 
sisted that  the  Treaty  should  contain  an  Amnesty 
Clause  providing  for  the  Loyalists ;  that  no  inde- 
pendence would  be  acknowledged  which  did  not 
consider  and  adjust  their  claims.  For  this  demand, 
there  was  not  only  the  well  understood  Law  of 
Nations,'  but  many  precedents  in  both  English  and 
European  history.  The  earlier  civil  wars  of  Eng- 
land had  imposed  no  disabilities  on  the  defeated 
party,  and  the  policy  had  been  always  productive  of 
most  happy  results.  The  United  States  could  well 
be  generous ;  indeed,  the  simple  justice  asked,  was 
her  wisest  course.  England,  meanwhile,  could  not 
afford  to  abandon  those  who  had  so  faithfully  clung 
to  their  allegiance. 

Franklin  declared  most  positively  that  nothing 
could  be  done  for  the  Loyalists  by  the  United 
States,  as  their  property  had  been  confiscated  by  the 
laws  of  particular  States,  sovereign  in  themselves, 
and  over  which  Congress  had  no  power.  He  argued 
that  the  English,  by  the  seizure  of  certain  Whig 
estates  in  South  Carolina,  had  forfeited  the  right  to 
intercede  for  their  adherents,  and  further  considered 

'  See  Vattel,  and  Puffendorf.  A  time-honoured  justification  of  the 
Loyalists  is  in  the  Statute  of  the  nth  of  Henry  VII.,  chap,  i,  declar- 
ing :  "  By  the  Common-Law  of  England,  the  subjects  are  bound  by 
their  duty  of  allegiance  to  serve  their  prince  against  every  rebellious 
power  or  might.  That  whatever  may  happen  in  the  fortune  of  war 
against  the  mind  of  the  prince,  it  is  against  all  law  and  good  con- 
science that  such  subjects  should  suffer  for  doing  their  true  duty  of 
allegiance." 


THE  FIRST  TREA  TV  PRESENTED.  459 

the  reckless  destruction  of  American  property  by  the 
British  troops,  wherever  stationed,  an  offset  to  the 
claims  of  the  Loyalists.  "  Compensation  of  Refu- 
gees could  be  no  part  of  the  Treaty,"  was  Ms  ultima- 
tum.' 

Lord  Shelburne  had  proposed  that  the  boundary 
of  Nova  Scotia  be  placed  at  the  Penobscot,  or  even 
at  the  Saco,  there  to  form  a  province  for  the  Loyal- 
ists, or  that  they  be  indemnified  by  the  sale  of  the 
unoccupied  lands  of  the  West.  To  these  sugges- 
tions, the  American  Commissioners  gave  no  atten- 
tion. Oswald  urged  their  restoration  to  civil  rights. 
Jay  replied  that  "  their  pardon  was  a  question  with 
which  Congress  could  not  meddle  " ;  the  States  being 
sovereign,  they  alone  had  authority  to  pronounce 
thereon. 

On  October  5th,  Mr.  Jay  presented  to  Oswald  the 
terms  of  a  Treaty  to  which  Oswald  assented.  It 
consisted  of  a  preamble,  and  four  articles  treating 
of  boundaries,  a  perpetual  peace,  the  rights  of  fish- 
eries, and  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  No  pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  Loyalists,  and  indeed.  Lord 
Townshend,  the  Colonial  Secretary,  had  previously 
written  to  Oswald  offering,  in  order  to  hasten  the  con- 
clusion of  a  treaty,  to  waive  any  stipulations  in  their 
behalf.  This  abandonment  of  the  Loyalists,  it  was 
well  declared  by  the  Opposition,  "  would  blast  for- 
ever the  honour  of  the  country."  Before  leaving 
Paris  to  lay  the  document  before  King  George,  both 

'  In  a  talk  between  Franklin  and  Adams,  the  latter  said  :  "  I  told 
him  I  had  no  idea  of  cheating  anybody.  The  question  of  paying 
debts  and  of  compensating  tories  were  two." 


460  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

Oswald  and  Strachey  made  formal  and  separate  de- 
mands, in  writing,  for  the  relief  of  the  Loyalists. 
The  American  Commissioners  refused  to  consider 
their  claims  unless  the  English  would  make  good  all 
losses  suffered  from  the  depredations  of  the  English 
army.  No  agreement  was  reached,  and  on  Novem- 
ber loth,  Mr.  Strachey  hastened  to  London.  The 
King  was  loath  to  accept  the  Treaty,  but  there  was 
the  risk  that  insistence  on  the  rights  of  the  Loyal- 
ists might  further  protract  the  war  and  throw  Amer- 
ica into  a  closer  alliance  with  France.  But  Shelburne 
was  true  to  the  unhappy  people  whose  protection 
he  had  undertaken.  He  worked  hard  for  their 
restoration  to  citizenship,  and  with  him  was  the 
entire  weight  of  public  sentiment. 

Strachey  believed  Jay  and  Adams  would  make 
some  concession  rather  than  give  up  the  Treaty  as 
arranged,  but  realised  the  "  obduracy  "  of  Franklin, 
who  stood  firmly  against  any  restitution  to  the  Loy- 
alists. He  endeavoured  to  convince  the  English 
Commission  that  they  had  no  claims  upon  England, 
for  it  was  their  misrepresentations  which  had  led  her 
to  prolong  the  war.  The  American  Commissioners 
were  now  one '  on  the  question,  and  they  certainly 
expressed  the  dominant  sentiment  in  the  United 
States. 


'  Jay  wrote  from  Passy  to  R.  L.  Livingston,  in  July,  1783:  "I 
hope  for  my  part  that  the  States  will  adopt  some  principle  on  decid- 
ing on  these  cases,  and  that  it  will  be  such  a  one  as  by  being  perfectly 
consistent  with  justice  and  humanity  will  meet  with  the  approbation 
not  only  of  dispassionate  nations  at  present,  but  also  of  dispassionate 
posterity  hereafter." 


THE  TURNING-POINT.  46 1 

It  might  be  urged  most  truthfully,  that  the 
nation  was  too  poor  to  pay  its  own  hungry,  half- 
clad  soldiers,  had  no  money  with  which  to  make 
good  the  losses  of  its  enemies.  It  was  again  pro- 
posed by  the  English  Commission  that  the  lands  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley  be  sold  for  the  purpose,  or 
that  as  the  British  army  still  held  New  York,  they 
should  demand  for  giving  up  the  city  a  sum  of 
money  sufificient  to  reimburse  those  who  had  suffered 
in  their  behalf.  That  this  proposition  received  slight 
consideration  from  Franklin  and  his  associates  need 
not  be  said. 

Strachey  returned  to  Paris  within  a  fortnight,  and 
the  day  after  his  arrival  the  Commissioners  met. 
The  Fisheries  question  was  settled,  and  as  Mr. 
Strachey  remarked, "  The  restitution  of  the  property 
of  the  Loyalists  was  the  grand  point  on  which  a 
final  settlement  depended." — "  If  the  Treaty  should 
break  off,  the  whole  business  must  go  loose  and  take 
its  chance  in  Parliament."  ' 

On  November  29th,  the  Commissioners  met  in  Mr. 
Jay's  apartment  in  the  H6tel  d'Orl^ans  for  a  final 
discussion.  Mr.  Laurens  was  now  present,  and  Mr. 
Fitzherbert,  the  British  Minister  to  France.  The 
American  Commissioners  then  conceded  that  there 
should  be  no  future  confiscations,  or  further  prose- 
cutions of  the  Loyalists ;  that  all  pending  prosecu- 
tions should  cease,  and  that  Congress,  in  behalf  of 
the  Refugees,  should  recommend  to  the  several 
States  and  their  Legislatures  the  restitution  of  con- 
fiscated property.  This  document  was  signed  No- 
'  Fitz-Maurice's  Life  of  Shelburne,  vol.  iii. ,  p.  34.8. 


462  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

vember  30,  1782.  Its  articles  were  provisional  upon 
the  conclusion  of  a  peace  between  England  and 
France.  This  treaty  was  effected  and  its  prelimi- 
nary articles  were  signed  January  20,  1783.  The 
news  was  received  in  Philadelphia,  March  14th. 

The  Definitive  Treaty  between  England  and  the 
United  States,  concluded  September  3,  1783,  was 
the  exact  reproduction  of  the  Provisional  Treaty. 
Never  was  a  greater  diplomatic  triumph  than  the 
success  of  the  American  Commissioners :  a  case  un- 
paralleled in  intricacy,  men  unused  to  political  nego- 
tiation, fettered  by  the  rigid  instructions  of  a  narrow 
Congress,  opposed  to  the  most  skilled  diplomatists 
of  England  and  France.  As  has  been  well  said  by 
a  Canadian  writer : '  "  One  knows  not  at  which  most 
to  marvel,  the  boldness,  skill  and  success  of  the 
American  Commissioners,  or  the  cowardice,  igno- 
rance and  recklessness  of  the  British  diplomatists." 
But  the  Treaty  of  Versailles,  although  a  triumph,  was 
not  an  honourable  one  ;  the  element  of  mercy  which 
most  adorns  the  victor  was  absent.  With  gratula- 
tions  of  the  successful  party  were  mingled  the  outcry 
of  the  cheated  Loyalists  and  the  indignant  sympathy 
of  their  nation.  The  full  measure  of  opprobrium 
fell  upon  the  English  Ministry  who  had  thus  de- 
serted their  tried  supporters. 

The  Articles  of  the  Treaty,  relating  to  the  Loyal- 
ists, and  after  much  bitter  debate,  finally  agreed 
upon,  are  the  Fourth,  Fifth,  and  Sixth."  Of  these, 
the  Fifth,  accepted  as  a  compromise  for  the  right  of 

'  Ryerson's  History  of  the  Loyalists,  vol.  ii. ,  p.  63. 

'Article  fourth.     "  It  is  agreed,  That  Creditors  on  either  side  shall 


ARTICLE  FIFTH  OF  THE  TREATY.  463 

drying  fish  on  the  shores  of  Newfoundland,  was  the 
one  which   bore  most  directly  upon  the  unhappy 

meet  with  no  lawful  impediment  to  the  recovery  of  the  full  value  in 
sterling  money  of  all  bona  fide  debts  heretofore  contracted." 

Article  fifth.  "It  is  agreed,  That  the  Congress  shall  earnestly 
recommend  it  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  respective  States,  to  provide 
for  the  Restitution  of  all  Estates,  Rights,  and  Properties,  which  have 
been  confiscated,  belonging  to  real  British  subjects  ;  and  also  of  the 
Estates,  Rights,  and  Properties  of  those  Persons,  residents  in  Dis- 
tricts in  Possession  of  his  Majesty's  Arms,  and  who  have  not  borne 
arms  against  the  said  United  States  ;  and  that  Persons  of  any  other 
description  shall  have  free  liberty  to  go  to  any  part  or  parts  of  the 
Thirteen  United  States,  and  therein  to  remain  Twelve  Months  un- 
molested in  their  endeavors  to  obtain  the  Restitution  of  such  of  their 
Estates,  Rights,  and  Properties,  as  may  have  been  confiscated  ;  and 
that  Congress  shall  also  earnestly  recommend  to  the  several  States,  a 
Reconsideration  and  Revision  of  all  Acts  or  Laws  regarding  the 
Premises,  so  as  to  render  the  said  Laws  or  Acts  perfectly  consistent, 
not  only  with  Justice  and  Equity,  but  with  that  spirit  of  Conciliation, 
which,  on  the  return  of  the  blessings  of  Peace,  should  universally 
prevail.  And  that  the  Congress  shall  also  earnestly  recommend  to 
the  several  States,  that  the  Estates,  Rights,  and  Properties  of  such 
last  mentioned  Persons  shall  be  restored  to  them,  they  refunding  to 
any  Persons  who  may  be  now  in  possession,  the  bona  fide  price 
(where  any  has  been  given)  which  such  Persons  may  have  paid  on 
purchasing  any  of  the  said  Lands,  Rights,  or  Properties,  since  the 
Confiscation.  And  it  is  agreed.  That  all  Persons  who  have  any  In- 
terests in  Confiscated  Lands,  either  by  Debts,  Marriage  Settlements, 
or  otherwise,  shall  meet  with  no  lawful  impediment  in  prosecution  of 
their  just  Rights." 

Article  sixth.  "  That  there  shall  be  no  future  Confiscations  made, 
nor  any  Prosecutions  commenced  against  any  Person  or  Persons  for 
or  by  reason  of  the  Part  which  he  or  they  may  have  taken  in  the 
present  War ;  and  that  no  Person  shall  on  that  account  suffer  any 
future  Loss  or  Damage,  either  in  his  Person,  Liberty,  or  Property  ; 
and  that  those  who  may  be  in  confinement  on  such  charges  at  the 
Time  of  the  Ratification  of  the  Treaty  in  America,  shall  be  immedi- 
ately set  at  liberty,  and  the  Prosecutions  so  commenced  be 
discontinued." 


464  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Loyalists.  For  their  protection  it  was  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  blank  paper,  although  Shelburne  hon- 
estly believed  their  rights  secured  thereby.  The 
American  Commissioners  conceded  its  provisions, 
well  knowing  the  "  earnest  recommendation  of  Con- 
gress," to  the  several  States  would  be  of  no  avail, 
although  since  the  coming  together  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  its  "  recommendations  "  to  the  thir- 
teen colonies  had  been  esteemed  as  law.  "  It  was  left 
to  local  avarice  and  to  local  resentment  to  deal  with 
the  property  of  banished  exiles," '  and  the  victims 
were  as  indignant  over  the  desertion  of  the  English 
as  at  the  chicanery  of  the  Americans. 

In  Parliament  the  condemnation  of  the  Fifth 
Article  was  bitter  and  sincere.  In  the  debate  over 
the  preliminary  articles  in  February,  1783,  Lord 
North  lamented  the  fate  of  the  Loyalists:  "Never 
was  the  honour  and  humanity  of  a  nation  so  grossly 
abused  as  in  the  desertion  of  these  men.  Nothing 
could  excuse  our  not  having  insisted  on  a  stipula- 
tion in  their  favour";  while  Fox  "wished  no  terms 
had  been  made  rather  than  such  as  they  were." 
Lord  Sackville  declared  that  "  the  abandonment  of 
the  Loyalists  was  a  thing  so  atrocious  that  if  it  had 
not  been  already  painted  in  its  horrid  colours,  he 
could  not  describe  its  cruelty,"  and  that  "  a  peace 
founded  on  the  sacrifice  of  those  unhappy  subjects 
must  be  accursed  in  the  sight  of  God  and  men." 
Lord  Loughsborough  exclaimed  that  "  neither  in 
ancient  nor  modern  history  had  there  been  so  shame- 

'  Ryerson's  History  of  the  Loyalists,  vol.  ii.,  p.  61, 


CONDEMNA  TION  IN  PARLIAMENT.  465 

ful  a  desertion  of  men  who  had  sacrificed  all  to  their 
duty  and  to  their  reliance  on  British  faith." 

The  House  of  Lords  as  a  body,  in  just  and  gener- 
ous indignation,  severely  condemned  the  Treaty,  and 
declared  the  nation  bound  to  protect  the  Loyalists 
and  to  make  good  their  losses.  The  Commons 
passed  a  vote  of  censure,  and  Lord  Shelburne  re- 
signed. It  is  the  irony  of  events,  that  he  who  had 
been  their  most  steadfast  friend  bore  the  brunt  of 
the  blame.  He  was  painfully  conscious  of  all  that 
the  Treaty  lacked,  and  in  attempted  defence  said  in 
Parliament :  "  I  have  but  one  answer  to  give  the 
House,  the  answer  I  give  my  own  bleeding  heart— a 
part  must  be  wounded  that  the  whole  do  not  perish. 
I  had  but  the  alternative  either  to  accept  the  terms 
proposed,  or  to  continue  the  war."  Judging  others 
by  his  own  singleness  of  purpose,  he  believed  the 
recommendation  of  Congress  would  really  afford 
some  relief  to  the  Loyalists.  If  not,  "  Parliament 
could  take  cognisance  of  their  cases  and  impart  to 
each  suffering  individual  the  relief  which  reason, 
perhaps  policy,  certainly  virtue  and  religion  require." 
He  added  that  at  one-fifth  the  cost  of  a  year's  cam- 
paign the  Loyalists  could  be  recompensed  with  as 
much  comfort  as  they  had  ever  enjoyed. 

The  King,  in  opening  Parliament,  spoke  with 
warm  feeling  of  the  Americans  who  from  loyalty  to 
him,  or  from  attachment  to  the  mother-country, 
"  had  relinquished  their  properties  and  professions," 
and  hoped  that  "  generous  attention "  would  be 
shown  them.  To  that  end,  the  Compensation  Act 
of  July,  1783,  was  designed,  appointing  a  Commitee 


466  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

"  to  enquire  into  the  Losses  and  Services  of  all  such 
Persons  who  have  suffered  in  Rights,  Properties  and 
Professions  during  the  late  Unhappy  Dissentions  in 
America  in  consequence  of  their  Loyalty  to  his 
Majesty  and  attachment  to  the  British  Govern- 
ment." 

The  Articles  of  Peace  were  ratified  by  Congress, 
January  14,  1784.  Copies  of  Article  Fifth  were 
then  sent  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States 
with  the  words :  "  It  was  the  desire  of  the  Congress 
to  have  it  communicated  to  them  for  their  Consid- 
eration." This  delay  was  in  itself  a  severe  trial  to 
any  Loyalist  who  had  hoped  for  immediate  aid  and 
reinstatement.  The  State  Legislatures  very  nat- 
urally interpreted  the  message  to  mean  that  com- 
pliance with  the  Act  was  at  their  own  pleasure,  and 
by  most  of  them  it  was  entirely  neglected.  South 
Carolina  was  alone  in  taking  any  legislative  measures 
to  restore  the  forfeited  estates,  measures  defeated 
by  the  passion  of  the  populace. 

On  January  30,  1784,  the  Governor,  George 
Clinton,  read  before  the  Senate  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  the  Fifth  Article  and  the  accompanying 
Recommendation.  The  subject  was  referred  to  a 
Committee  of  the  Whole,  who  reported,  March  30th, 
as  follows: 

"  Resolved  (if  the  Honourable  House  of  Assembly 
concur  herein)  that  it  appears  to  this  Legislature 
that  in  the  Progress  of  the  late  War,  the  Adherents 
of  the  King  of  Great  Britain  instead  of  being 
restrained  to  fair  and  mitigated  Hostilities  which 
are  only  permitted  by  the  Laws  of  Nations,  have 


REPORT  BY  THE  SENATE  OF  NEW  YORK.     467 

cruelly  massacred  without  Regard  to  Age  or  Sex, 
many  of  our  Citizens,  and  wantonly  desolated  and 
laid  Waste  a  great  part  of  this  State  by  burning  not 
only  single  Houses  and  other  Buildings  in  many 
parts  of  the  State,  but  even  whole  Towns  and  Vil- 
lages and  destroying  other  Property  throughout  a 
great  Extent  of  Country  and  in  Enterprises  which 
have  nothing  but  Vengeance  for  their  Object. 

"  And,  that  in  consequence  of  such  unrestrained 
Operations,  great  numbers  of  the  Citizens  of  this 
State  have  from  afifluent  Circumstances  been  reduced 
to  Poverty  and  Distress. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  appears  to  this  Legislature  that 
divers  of  the  Inhabitants  of  this  State  have  contin- 
ued to  adhere  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain  after 
these  States  were  declared  Free  and  Independent, 
and  persevered  in  aiding  the  said  King,  his  Fleets 
and  Armies  to  subjugate  these  United  States  to 
Bondage, 

"  Resolved,  That  as  on  the  one  Hand,  the  Rules  of 
Justice  do  not  require,  so  on  the  other,  the  Publick 
Tranquillity  will  not  permit  that  such  Adherents  who 
have  been  attainted  should  be  restored  to  the  Rights 
of  Citizenship. 

"  And  that  there  can  be  no  reason  for  restoring 
Property  which  has  been  Confiscated  and  forfeited, 
the  more  especially  as  no  Compensation  is  offered 
on  the  Part  of  the  said  King  and  his  Adherents  for 
the  Damages  sustained  by  this  State  and  its  Citizens 
for  the  Desolation  aforesaid. 

"  Resolved,  therefore,  That  while  this  Legislature 
entertain  the  highest  sense  of  national  Honor,  of  the 


468  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Sanction  of  Treaties  and  of  the  Deference  which  is 
due  to  the  Advise  of  the  United  States  in  Congress 
Assembled  they  find  it  inconsistent  with  their  Duty 
to  comply  with  the  Recommendation  of  the  said 
United  States  on  the  subject  matter  of  the  said 
Fifth  Article  of  the  said  Definitive  Treaty  of 
Peace."  ' 

This  Legislature,  while  rejecting  the  Recommen- 
dation of  Congress,  further  passed  those  laws  which 
so  disgraced  the  fair  fame  of  the  new  State,  and 
effectually  prevented  any  benefit  from  the  Treaty 
coming  to  the  unfortunate  Loyalists.  Their  action 
was  not  the  less  virulent  that  Governor  Clinton  was 
inexorable  in  his  hatred  of  all  who  had  not  renounced 
their  British  allegiance.  The  famous  Trespass  Act 
of  May  4th, "  was  called  "  An  Act  for  Relief  against 
Absconding  and  absent  Debtors:  and  to  extend 
effectual  Relief  in  cases  of  certain  Trespasses,  and 
for  other  Purposes  therein  mentioned."  "  Other 
purposes  "  was  a  phrase  of  convenient  scope,  and  it 

'  In  the  Legislature  of  1784  which  thus  expressed  itself,  the  Sena- 
tors from  Long  Island  were  William  Floyd,  Ezra  L'Hommedieu, 
and  Samuel  Townsend.     The  members  of  Assembly  were  : 

Johannes  E.  Lott  > 

Rutger  Van  Brunt  [     Kings  County 

Benjamin  Coe 

Hendrick  Onderdonk       [•      Queens  County 

James  Townsend 

John  Brush 

David  Gelston 

Ebenezer  Piatt  \     Suffolk  County 

Jeffrey  Smith 

Thos.  Youngs. 
^  See  Greenleaf's  Laws  of  New  York,  vol.  i.,  p.  115. 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  THE  LOYALISTS.     469 

was  under  its  cover  that  the  imposition  was  made  of 
;^I00,000  on  the  Southern  District,  "  as  compensa- 
tion to  other  parts  of  the  state,  they  not  having 
been  in  condition  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  war !  " 
Of  this  amount,  Long  Island  gave  ;^37,ooo. 

On  May  12,  1784,  were  passed  two  laws;  the 
one  "  to  preserve  the  Freedom  and  Independence  of 
the  State  &  for  other  purposes,"  was  practically,  a 
disfranchisement  and  perpetual  banishment  of  the 
Loyalists.  The  other,*  "An  Act  for  the  Speedy 
Sale  of  the  Confiscated  and  forfeited  Estates  within 
this  State,"  contained  fifty-eight  sections,  and  made 
it  impossible  for  the  attainted  Loyalist  to  profit  by 
the  conditions  of  the  Treaty,  to  return  to,  or  to 
re-purchase  his  own  house  or  lands. 

The  former  of  the  Acts  of  May  12th  was  one  of 
attainder  and  disfranchisement,  holding  guilty  of 
misprision  of  treason,  "All  persons  who  after  the 
9th  of  July,  1776,  had  accepted  or  held  commissions 
under  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  or  who  had  been 
concerned  in  fitting  out  any  privateer  or  vessel  of 
war,  to  cruise  against,  or  to  commit  hostilities  upon 
the  property  or  the  persons  of  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  or  their  allies,  or  who  had  served  on 
board  such  privateers  as  Captains,  Lieutenants  or 
Masters,  or  who  had  exercised  any  office  in  the 
Courts  of  Police,  or  any  office  in  the  Court  of  Admi- 
ralty established  under  the  authority  of  Great 
Britain,  and  also  all  those  who  after  the  9th  of  July, 
1776,  had  voluntarily  gone  to,  remained  with  or 
joined  Great  Britain  at  any  time  during  the  war,  or 
'  See  Greenleaf's  Laws  of  New  York,  vol.  i.,  pp.  127-49. 


470  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

had  left  the  State  before  November  25,  1783,  and 
had  not  returned,  if  found  hereafter  within  the 
State." 

It  is  further  enacted  that  "All  persons  falling 
under  any  of  the  descriptions  before  mentioned 
should  be  forever  thereafter  disqualified  from  enjoy- 
ing any  Legislative,  Judicial  or  Executive  ofifice 
within  the  State,  and  forever  debarred  from  voting 
at  an  election  for  any  ofifice  whatever.''  This  act 
disfranchised  two-thirds  the  citizens  of  the  City  and 
County  of  New  York,  of  Richmond,  and  of  Kings; 
one-fifth  of  Suffolk,  nine-tenths  of  Queens  County, 
and  the  entire  Borough  of  Westchester.  It  was 
passed  in  a  frenzy  of  hatred  over  the  veto  of  the 
Revisionary  Council,'  with  no  pretence  of  meeting 
their  objections,  presented  as  follows : 

"  The  Council  object  to  the  Bill, 

"  First,  Because  by  the  first  enacting  clause,  the 
voluntarily  remaining  with  the  Fleets  and  Armies  of 
the  King  of  Great  Britain  is  made  an  offence  highly 
penal ;  whereas,  by  the  Known  Laws  of  all  Nations, 
Persons  who  remain  with  their  Possessions  when  the 
Country  is  overrun  by  a  conquering  Army  are  at  least 
excused  if  not  justified  ;  and  should  our  Laws  be 
made  to  retrospect  in  a  manner  so  directly  contrary 
to  the  received  opinion  of  all  civilised  nations  and 
even  the  known  principles  of  common  Justice,  it 
would  be  highly  derogatory  to  the  honour  of  the 
State  and  fill  the  minds  of  our  fellow-citizens  with 

'  The  Council  of  Revision  consisted  of  Governor  Clinton  and  the 
two  most  able  lawyers  of  New  York,  the  Chief  Justice,  Lewis  Morris, 
and  John  Sloss  Hobart. 


OBJECTIONS  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  REVISION.  47 1 

the  Apprehension  of  suffering  in  the  future  some 
heavy  Punishment  for  that  conduct  which  is  at 
present  perfectly  innocent.  Besides,  was  this  Bill 
free  from  the  objections  which  lye  against  all  retro- 
spective and  ex  post  facto  laws,  the  inconvenience 
which  must  unavoidably  follow  should  it  become  a 
Law  of  this  State,  are  fully  sufficient  to  show  that  it 
is  totally  inconsistent  with  the  public  good  :  for,  so 
large  a  Proportion  of  the  Citizens  remained  in  the 
Parts  of  the  Southern  District  which  were  possessed 
by  the  British  Armies  that  in  most  places  it  would 
be  difficult,  and  in  many,  absolutely  impossible  to 
find  men  to  fill  the  necessary  Offices,  even  for  con- 
ducting Election  until  a  new  Set  of  Inhabitants 
could  be  procured. 

"  Secondly,  Because  the  Persons  within  the  several 
descriptions  of  offences  enumerated  in  the  first 
enacting  clause  cannot  be  judged  guilty  of  Mis- 
prision of  Treason  but  on  Conviction.  This  must 
be  a  Prosecution  commenced  by  reason  of  the  part 
the  Defendants  may  have  taken  during  the  War, 
directly  in  face  of  the  Sixth  Article  of  the  Definitive 
Treaty,  by  which  it  is  stipulated  that  '  No  further 
Prosecution  shall  be  commenced  against  any  person 
or  persons,  for  or  by  reason  of  the  part  which  he  or 
they  may  have  taken  in  the  War,  and  that  no  Person 
shall  on  that  account  suffer  any  future  Loss  or 
Damage,  either  in  his  Person,  Liberty  or  Property.' 

"  Thirdly,  Because  by  the  second  enacting  clause 
of  the  said  Bill  the  Inspectors  and  Superintendants 
of  Election  are  constituted  a  Court,  they  being  by 
the  said  Bill  expressly  authorised  to  inquire  into  and 


472 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


determine  the  several  Matters  in  the  first  enacting 
clause,  and  their  judgment  is  conclusive  to  dis- 
franchise. This  is  constituting  a  new  Court  which 
does  not  proceed  according  to  the  course  of  the 
Common  Law  and  is  especially  against  the  Forty- 
first  section  of  the  Constitution." 

Such  was  the  spirit  of  those  in  power — the  domi- 
nant majority — that  these  sober  counsels  were  of 
no  avail.  There  only  remained  for  the  objects  of 
their  indiscriminate  vengeance,  that  expatriation 
which  scattered  on  tropical  islands,  or  carried  to 
build  up  a  new  province  on  the  bleak  shores  of  the 
Northern  Atlantic,  a  hundred  thousand  of  those 
whose  energy  and  culture,  whose  gentle  breeding 
and  persistent  purpose,  would  have  been  a  rich 
heritage  for  the  young  nation  who  cast  them  out. 


«.v= 


XIX. 

THE  LOYALISTS. 

ANY  careful  study  of  the  closing  of  the  Colonial 
period  would  be  most  incomplete  without 
further  mention  of  those  devoted  men  whose 
undeserved  fate  gives  a  tragic  element  to  the  history 
of  the  new-born  State.  In  the  paeans  of  victory 
which  closed  the  war  and  celebrated  the  conclusion 
of  peace,  there  was  one  discordant  note  whose 
mournful  tone  swelled  into  the  most  solemn  of 
threnodies. 

The  sad  story  of  the  Loyalists  of  Long  Island 
must  give  its  dark  undercurrent  to  any  truthful 
chronicle  of  the  revolutionary  years.  Their  princi- 
ples were  the  natural  outcome  of  the  Colonial  growth 
of  New  York,  and  their  sufferings  demand  the  tribute 
of  impartial  and  reverent  attention.  But  the  worst 
was  yet  to  come.  They  endured  as  much  from 
British  indifference  and  the  rapacity  of  ofificers  high 
in  rank  as  from  American  vindictiveness.  The 
malignity  of  their  professed  enemies  did  not  cut  as 
deeply  as  the  apathy  and  the  evasions  of  those  who 
should  have  been  their  grateful  protectors.  Every 
revolution  brings  woe  to  the  better  class  of  the  com- 

473 


474  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

munity.  It  is  intelligence  and  refinement  which 
suffer  most.  Conservatism  runs  in  the  blood  of  the 
educated  and  stable  members  of  any  society,  and  a 
great  political  upheaval  is  their  destruction. 

This  was  eminently  true  on  Long  Island.  The 
limitations  of  commerce  and  the  restrictions  upon 
manufacture  so  fatal  to  the  development  of  a  new 
country,  more  even  than  the  supposed  violation  of 
their  abstract  aud  constitutional  rights,  were  the 
fundamental  causes  of  the  American  Revolution. 
These  causes  were  most  potent  in  New  England. 
The  Middle  and  Southern  States,  from  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  their  planting  and  growth,  were  the 
pre-determined  friends  of  established  order,  and  in 
New  York,  nowhere  were  men  more  ardently  loyal 
than  on  the  Island  of  Nassau. 

The  Colonists  sought  for  redress  of  specified 
grievances,  for  a  Bill  of  Rights,  but  therein  were  as 
sincere  in  their  efforts  to  sustain  the  Government  as 
were  the  "  rebellious  "  Barons  at  Runnymede.  The 
struggle  was  begun  with  no  thought  of  Indepen- 
dence. They  were  forced  to  that  end  by  a  small 
and  wavering  majority.  The  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  a  breach  of  faith  to  the  great  mass  of 
the  people,  as  well  as  to  the  statesmen  who  had  in 
Parliament  zealously  championed  the  American 
cause,  to  Chatham  and  Burke  and  Fox.  Until 
then,  Whigs  and  Tories  differed  only  in  the  degree 
in  which  they  held  their  allegiance  to  the  King,  in 
the  faith  they  had  in  the  honest  intention  of  Eng- 
land to  redress  their  wrongs,  and  in  their  measure 
of  the  rights  of  the  subject  as  opposed  to  the  con- 


CLASSES  OF  LOYALISTS.  475 

stitutional  rights  of  the  King.  These  relations  were 
changed  by  the  work  of  the  Continental  Congress  in 
July,  1776,  and  they  who  did  not  accept  its  action, 
but  still  looked  for  reconciliation  with  the  Home 
Government,  were  branded  as  traitors. 

In  the  new  order  of  affairs  then  instituted,  men 
were  classed  as  "  friends  of  Government  " — the  new, 
self-ordained  government, — or  as  "  Enemies  to  the 
Liberties  of  their  Country."  This  expression  gave 
place  to  the  now  obnoxious  term  of  Tory,  which 
losing  its  old  political  significance  came  to  express 
everything  that  was  despicable,  and  was  applied  to 
men  as  widely  different  in  character  and  motives  as 
the  venerable  Colden  and  the  scheming  Galloway. 

There  were  unquestionably  two  classes  among 
those  who  adhered  to  the  royal  Government  from 
sincere  and  disinterested  motives,  the  men  inspired 
by  an  innate  principle  of  loyalty,  to  be  maintained 
come  weal  or  woe,  and  those  who  timidly  feared 
the  effect  of  any  change  in  the  standing  order  of 
affairs.  There  were  also  those  whose  adherence  to 
England  was  from  motives  more  or  less  mercenary. 
Prominent  among  them  were  the  various  officials  of 
the  Crown,  numerous  enough  to  be  in  a  degree  in- 
dependent of  popular  support  and  suspected  of 
being  informers.  They  were  the  most  offensive  to 
those  who  arrogated  to  themselves  the  name  of 
Patriots.  While  the  great  body  of  American  trades- 
men were  those  who  rose  up  against  the  restricting 
Acts  of  Parliament,  there  were  many  merchants, 
whether  of  English  or  American  birth,  whose  busi- 
ness was  endangered,  and  who  were  forced  to  sign 


476  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

agreements  against  the  importation  of  British  goods. 
These  men,  with  selfish  ends  to  serve,  easily  became 
smugglers,  and  were  often  in  the  pay  of  England. 

But  the  party  took  its  tone  from  and  was  inspired 
by  those  men  of  nobler  spirit,  exalted  in  public  and 
private  life,  loving  America  as  their  home  but  having 
grown  up  to  look  upon  England  as  the  mother-land  ; 
ready  to  condemn  and  to  oppose  the  unjust  oppres- 
sion of  the  Government,  but  beHeving  that  calm  re- 
monstrance could  adjust  all  differences.  Their 
strongest  sentiment  was  an  ingrained  reverence  for 
constitutional  order,  and  most  of  all  they  dreaded 
the  anarchy  they  believed  would  follow  the  over- 
throw of  established  authority  and  the  substitution 
of  popular  rule.  Many  of  them,  however,  while 
clinging  to  the  Crown  as  long  as  there  remained  a 
shadow  of  its  power,  when  the  independence  of  the 
Colonies  was  acknowledged  by  England,  would 
have  become  loyal  subjects  of  the  existing  Govern- 
ment, acknowledging  it  as  the  authority  de  facto,  if 
not  in  their  estimation  de  jure.  But  the  United 
States  in  angry  haste  expatriated  tens  of  thousands 
of  her  best  citizens,  one  hundred  thousand,  one-third 
the  white  population  of  the  new  nation. 

Of  the  two  periods  in  the  history  of  the  Loyalists, 
their  treatment  during  the  war  and  their  fate  after 
the  conclusion  of  peace,  the  former  has  been  already 
noticed.  They  formed  a  part  of  the  population 
numerically  important,  still  more  so,  when  it  is  re- 
membered that  in  their  ranks  was  much  of  the  best 
blood  of  the  country.  There  were  at  one  time  more 
than  twice   as  many  armed  native  Provincials,  as 


NUMBER   OF  THE  LOYALISTS.  477 

were  men  under  the  command  of  Washington.' 
Fully  twenty-five  thousand  loyal  Americans  were 
in  the  British  army,  and  many  officers  experienced 
in  the  French  and  Indian  wars." 

Severe  as  was  the  legislation  against  the  Loyalists, 
more  to  be  condemned  was  the  action  of  self-consti- 
tuted Committees  who  spread  terror  throughout  the 
entire  period  of  the  war.  Groups  of  men  in  any 
neighbourhood  assumed  authority,  or  received  its 
semblance  from  the  Provincial  Congress,  to  spend 
their  wrath  upon  any  unoffending  person  who  might 
come  under  their  suspicion.  A  mob  was  invested 
with  full  power  for  domiciliary  visits,  inquisition 
into  the  political  status  of  any  person  not  active  in 
the  cause  of  the  new  Government,  and  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  such  punishment  as  seemed  good  in 
their  eyes.  Neutrality  was  impossible,  and  he  who 
was  not  openly  for  them,  was  condemned  as  against 
them.  The  only  choice  for  the  Loyalists  was  to 
remain  at  home,  waiting  for  peace,  and  exposed  to 
these  dangers,  or,  if  seeking  safety  within  the  British 
lines,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  there  remained  only 
confiscation  and  exile. 

'  Winsor's  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  vii.,  p.  193. 
"  Most  noteworthy  among  these  regiments  were  the 

King's  Rangers, 

Queen's  Rangers, 

King's  American  Regiment, 

Prince  of  Wales's  American  Volunteers, 

The  Royal  Fencible  Americans, 

The  British  Legion, 

The  Loyal  Foresters. 
The  House  of  Commons,  June  17,  1783,  by  motion  of  Lord  North, 
voted  half-pay  to  the  officers  of  these  regiments. 


4/8  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

The  action  against  the  "  Tories,"  as  conducted  by 
these  self-appointed  censors,  ran  in  gradation  from 
the  endeavour  to  force  opinion,  to  disarming,  fines, 
imprisonment,  confiscation,  banishment,  and  death. 
Individual  wrongs  were  never  redressed  by  public 
justice ;  lawlessness  was  unrestrained.  The  State 
legislation  added  impetus  to  the  mad  career  of  pri- 
vate animosity.  During  the  war  every  one  of  the 
thirteen  colonies  had  passed  acts  against  the  Loyal- 
ists. A  classification  of  offences  existed,  such  as 
giving  information  to  the  English ;  supplying  the 
enemy ;  piloting  the  enemy ;  enlisting  in  the  British 
army  ;  speaking  against  the  authority  of  Congress  ; 
going  to  another  province ;  refusing  to  renounce 
allegiance  to  Great  Britain ;  refusing  to  swear  alle- 
giance to  the  United  States. 

Early  in  the  war  many  Loyalists  had  left  the 
country.  At  the  evacuation  of  Boston  more  than 
one  thousand  accompanied  General  Gage  to  Halifax. 
When  the  British  left  Philadelphia  in  1778,  three 
thousand  loyaj  inhabitants  followed  them.  On 
Long  Island  most  of  the  people  sought  to  remain  in 
their  homes  and  to  follow  their  usual  vocations. 
But  the  progress  of  the  war  broke  up  the  quiet  life 
which  had  there  prevailed.  The  persecutions  which 
preceded  and  followed  the  Battle  of  Brooklyn  were 
continued  throughout  its  course,  by  the  raids  of  the 
Connecticut  whale-boaters  and  other  lawless  Whigs, 
by  the  occupancy  of  the  British  army,  and  by  the 
indiscriminate  plunder  of  the  Board  of  Associated 
Loyalists  stationed  at  Lloyd's  Neck,  who  rarely  dis- 
criminated between  friend  and  foe.     New  York  was 


FEARS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  479 

the  Loyalist  stronghold,  containing  more  than  any- 
other  colony,  and  Queens  County  was  the  most 
loyal  part  of  New  York.  At  the  close  of  the  war 
more  than  one-third  its  people  went  to  Nova  Scotia, 
while  Hempstead  had  provided  for  so  many  refugees 
that  its  poor-rates  were  trebled.  All  taxable  inhabi- 
tants of  Queens  who  had  remained  there  during  the 
Revolution  were  assessed  fourteen  pounds  for  the 
expenses  of  the  war. 

As  the  war  drew  near  its  close  and  negotiations  for 
peace  were  in  progress,  the  Loyalists  began  to  fear 
themselves  abandoned,  and  that  their  fervent  sacri- 
fices had  been  useless.  Then,  under  date  of  August 
10,  1782,  they  addressed  this  appeal'  to  Sir  Guy 
Carleton,  who  had  arrived  in  New  York  in  April : 

"  To  their  Excellencies  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  K.  B., 
General  and  Commander-in-Chief,  &c.,  &c.,  Grc,  and 
the  Honourable  Rear  Admiral  Digby,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  his  Majesty's  ships,  &c.,  &c.,  His  Majesty's 
Commissioners  for  restoring  peace,  &c.,  &c.,  drc: 

"  The  Loyal  Inhabitants  and  Refugees  within  the 
British  Lines  at  New  York  beg  leave  most  respect- 
fully to  present  their  united  acknowledgements  to 
your  Excellencies  for  the  ready  and  polite  communi- 
cation you  were  pleased  so  obligingly  to  make  to 
them  of  the  contents  of  the  letter  sent  by  your 
Excellency  to  General  Washington — respecting  the 
negotiations  for  a  general  peace  by  the  several 
powers  at  war,  now  at  Paris;  and  the  proposal 
directed  to  be  made  by  his  Majesty  of  the  indepen- 
dency of  The  Thirteen  Provinces  of  America,  in  the 

'  Remembrancer,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  326. 


480  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

first  instance,  instead  of  making  it  a  condition  of  a 
general  treaty. 

"  As  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  express  the  conster- 
nation with  which  we  were  struck  even  on  the  proba- 
bility of  so  calamitous  an  event  taking  place,  as 
that  held  out  in  the  proposition  stated,  so  we  cannot 
suppress  our  feelings  on  a  point  so  exceedingly 
momentous  in  its  consequences  to  the  British  Em- 
pire and  in  particular  to  our  own  future  peace,  safety 
and  happiness. 

"  To  preserve  the  British  dominion  entire  and  to 
evince  our  disinterested  affection  for  his  Majesty's 
sacred  person  and  government,  we  hesitated  not  to 
step  forth  and  hazard  our  lives  and  fortunes,  confi- 
dently relying  on  the  assurances  repeatedly  given  to 
us  by  his  Majesty,  and  firmly  depending  on  the 
justice,  magnanimity  and  faith  of  Parliament  that 
we  should  never  be  deserted  in  a  cause  so  just  and  in 
distresses  so  great  and  overwhelming. 

"  With  unfeigned  gratitude  we  acknowledge  his 
Majesty's  paternal  goodness  and  attention  to  the 
sufferings  of  his  loyal  subjects  in  America,  for  the 
protection  hitherto  offered  them ;  the  bounties  fur- 
nished and  the  great  and  spirited  efforts  made  by  a 
brave  and  generous  nation  to  reclaim  the  Colonies 
to  a  due  connection  with  the  Parent  State. 

"  We  have  most  pathetically  to  lament  that  such 
noble  and  more  than  equal  exertions  have  failed ; 
although  their  failure  has  not  been  owing  to  any  real 
implacability  of  the  war.  We  take  leave  to  assure 
your  Excellencies  that  we  have  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve there  exists  a  majority  of  the  people  through- 
out the  Province  who  are  ardently  desirous  to  be 


MEMORIAL  TO  SIR   GUY  CARLE  TON.  48 1 

again  reunited  in  his  Majesty's  just  authority  and 
government ;  and  that  from  a  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances arising  from  various  public  distress,  the 
spirit  of  re-union  is  now  actually  operating  in  several 
quarters  to  bring  forward  measures  productive  of 
the  most  favourable  consequences  to  his  Majesty's 
interests. 

"With  such  flattering  prospects  in  view,  at  a 
moment  that  through  the  Divine  assistance  his 
Majesty's  naval  superiority  has  been  gloriously 
asserted  and  regained ;  when  the  most  brilliant 
advantages  have  been  obtained  by  his  victorious 
arms  in  the  East ;  when  instead  of  any  symptoms 
of  real  debility,  the  natural  commerce,  resources  and 
spirit  seem  to  be  rising  far  beyond  those  of  our  com- 
bined enemies,  we  joyfully  concluded  that  the  Inde- 
pendency of  those  Provinces  would  still  have  been 
considered  inadmissible  because  injurious  to  the 
safety  and  incompatible  with  the  glory  and  dignity 
of  the  whole  British  Empire.  The  hour  of  victory 
and  success  may  perhaps  be  the  proper  hour  to  treat 
of  peace,  but  not,  we  humbly  conceive,  to  dismember 
an  Empire. 

"  We  presume  not,  however,  to  arraign  the  wis- 
dom of  his  Majesty's  Councils,  nor  to  judge  of  the 
great  political  necessity  which  may  have  existed  to 
justify  this  measure  to  the  virtue,  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence of  his  Majesty,  of  his  Parliament,  and  of  the 
nation  at  large ;  we  must  submit  this  great  and 
weighty  question. 

"  But  should  the  great  event  of  the  independency 
of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  be  determined  and  we 
thereby  have  to  encounter  the  most  inexpressible 


482  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

misfortune  of  being  forever  cast  out  of  his  Majesty's 
protection  and  government,  we  have  only  then  to 
entreat  your  Excellencies'  interposition  with  his 
Majesty,  by  every  consideration  of  humanity  to 
secure  if  possible,  beyond  the  mere  form  of  treaty, 
our  persons  and  properties,  that  such  as  think  they 
cannot  safely  remain  here  may  be  enabled  to  seek 
refuge  elsewhere. 

"  These  are  the  sentiments,  may  it  please  your 
Excellencies,  which  in  the  fulness  of  our  hearts  we 
feel  ourselves  constrained  to  express  in  this  alarming 
moment,  influenced,  however,  by  a  hope  that  it  may 
not  yet  be  too  late.  We  most  earnestly  request  of 
your  Excellencies  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  repre- 
sent to  our  gracious  Sovereign,  accompanied  with 
our  warmest  and  most  affectionate  assurances  of 
duty  and  loyalty,  our  present  distressed  situation, 
the  confidence  we  have  in  his  royal  and  benevolent 
attention  and  in  the  justice  of  the  British  nation  to 
save  us  from  that  ruin  and  despair  which  must 
otherwise  fall  upon  our  devoted  heads. 

"  As  witnesses  to  our  distress  and  generously 
sympathising  with  us  in  our  misfortunes,  we  cannot 
fail  to  have  advocates  in  your  Excellencies  to  the 
throne  of  our  beloved  Sovereign,  the  most  zealous 
and  able.  Firmly  persuaded  of  this  we  shall  in  the 
mean  time  by  a  manly  and  steadfast  conduct  and 
loyalty  endeavour  to  support  his  Majesty's  interests 
within  these  lines,  preserving  your  Excellencies 
opinion  and  patiently  wait  the  event. 

"Signed  by  the  Committee. 

"New  York,  August  10,  1782." 


CARLE  TON 'S  EFFOR  TS  TO  AID  LO  YALISTS.     483 

Sir  Guy  Carleton '  was  unquestionably  the  most 
sincere  friend  of  the  Loyalists,  but  his  ingenuous 
nature  was  no  match  for  the  double-dealing  with 
which  he  had  to  contend,  and  he  was  not  seldom 
imposed  upon  by  his  astute  legal  adviser,  that  Wil- 
liam Smith  of  whom  "  McFingal "  had  already  said, 

"  Smith's  weather-cock  with  forlorn  veers 
Could  hardly  tell  which  way  to  turn." 

Judge  Jones  complains  bitterly  that,  in  the  time 
between  the  reception  of  the  Treaty  and  the  Evacua- 
tion, Sir  Guy  did  not  use  his  power  to  compel  the 
payment  of  debts  to  the  men  attainted  by  the  Act 
of  October  22,  1779.  He  appointed  a  committee  to 
examine  their  claims,  but  in  a  session  of  seven 
months  it  did  nothing.  It  had  indeed  no  power 
beyond  the  Courts  of  Police,  or  over  debts  incurred 
before  May  i,  1776,  the  payment  of  which  his 
petitioners  had  begged  the  General  to  enforce.  The 
failure  therein  weighed  heavily  on  rich  and  poor, 
reducing  many  gentlemen  from  affluence  to  poverty, 
and  those  of  more  modest  means  to  absolute  want. 

The  Evacuation  of  New  York  had  been  much  de- 
layed by  Sir  Guy's  persistent  efforts  to  make  suita- 
ble provision  for  the  impoverished  Loyalists  who 
crowded  to  the  city.  He  had  addressed  both  the 
Congress  and  the  New  York  Legislature,  and  had 
written  in  their  behalf  to  Governor  Clinton,  and  he 
had  written  in  vain. 

Nor  was  England  more  active  in  the  adjustment 

'  "  So  honest,  so  good,  so  just,  so  kind  a  man,  and  one  so  attached 
to  this  unhappy  land."— Jones's  Hist.  New  York,  vol.  ii.,  p.  124. 


484  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

of  claims  and  in  reparation  to  her  injured  sons.  The 
Compensation  Act  of  July,  1783,  was  "  to  inquire 
into  the  circumstances  and  former  fortunes  of  such 
persons  as  are  reduced  to  distress  by  the  late  un- 
happy dissentions  in  America,"  and  gave  no  author- 
ity for  action.  It  limited  the  time  of  receiving  the 
claims  to  March  25,  1784.  The  time  was  extended 
by  three  later  acts,  but  the  business  was  not  com- 
pleted until  the  spring  of  1790."  The  matter  was 
complicated  by  the  sensitiveness  of  the  claimants 
who  would  not  appear  as  suppliants  for  alms,  and 
further  retarded  by  the  requirement  of  vouchers 
and  inventories,  difificult  and  often  impossible  to 
obtain.  The  whole  number  of  claimants  was  three 
thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-five.  Of  these, 
nearly  one  thousand  claims  were  refused  or  with- 
drawn. Over  ten  millions  pounds  were  paid,  but 
the  average  amount  was  less  than  one-third  the 
claim."  Those  compensated  were  not  the  tenth  of 
those  who  had  been  impoverished,  and  had  no  one 
to  present  their  claims. 

There  was  much  feeling  among  the  Loyalists  who 
were  allotted  lands  in  Nova  Scotia  over  the  unequal 
granting  of  the  same.  In  July,  1783,  Abijah  Willard  ° 
and  fifty-four  others,  petitioned  Sir  Guy  for  the  same 
amount  of  land  as  was  given  to  field  officers  of  the 

'  In  March,  1821,  Parliament  debated  the  question  of  paying  with 
interest  the  unsatisfied  claims. 

"  See  Lecky's  Hist,  of  England  in  Eighteenth  Century^  vol.  iv.,  p. 
268.     Winsor's  Critical  Hist.  America,  vol.  vii.,  p.  211. 

'  Abijah  Willard  was  from  Lancaster,  Massachusetts,  and  in  1776 
went  to  Halifax  with  General  Gage,  but  was  on  Long  Island  during 
the  war. 


PROTESTS  AGAINST  "  THE  FIFTY-FIVE."     485 

army,  their  position  being  as  high  and  their  sacri- 
fices greater.  This  would  assign  to  each  one  some 
five  thousand  acres  of  land.  Their  appeal  was  fol- 
lowed by  this  counter-petition  ' : 

"  To  his  Excellency 
Sir  Guy  Carleton 
Knight  of  the  Most  Honourable  Order  of  the  Bath, 
General   &   Commander-in-chief    &c.     The    MEMO- 
RIAL of  the  Subscribers  humbly  sheweth, 

"  That  your  Memorialists  having  been  deprived  of 
very  valuable  landed  estates  and  considerable  per- 
gonal property  without  the  lines,  and  being  also 
obliged  to  abandon  their  possessions  in  this  city  on 
account  of  their  loyalty  to  their  Sovereign,  and 
attachment  to  the  British  Constitution  and  seeing 
no  prospect  of  their  being  reinstated,  had  determined 
to  remove  with  their  families  and  settle  in  his  Ma- 
jesty's Province  of  Nova  Scotia  on  terms  which 
they  understood  were  held  out  equally  to  all  his 
Majesty's  persecuted  subjects."  Here  follows  their 
protest  against  The  Fifty-five  and  an  entreaty  for 
delay  in  locating  lands,  that  they  may  take  posses- 
sion of  that  allotted  them,  August  15,  1783. 

Carleton's  reply  was  that  he  believed  no  person 
would  receive  more  than  a  thousand  acres,  and  that 
the  power  of  granting  patents  rested  exclusively 
with  Governor  Parr  of  Nova  Scotia,  "  who  was 
extremely  solicitous  to  do  justice  to  all." 

Another  memorial,  recently  found  in  the  Archives 
of  Nova  Scotia,"  and  signed  by  six  hundred  and 

'  Remembrancer,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  59. 

^  See  New  York  Genealogical  and  Biographical  Record,  vol.  xxi. , 
p.  186. 


486  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

forty-two  persons,  among  whom  are  many  of  Long 
Island  name,  further  remonstrates  with  Carleton 
against  The  Fifty-five,  and  ends  by  saying: 

"  Your  memorialists  can  not  but  regard  the  Grants 
in  Question  if  carried  into  effect,  as  amounting 
nearly  to  a  total  exclusion  of  themselves  &  Familys 
who  if  they  become  Settlers  must  either  content 
themselves  with  barren  and  remote  Lands,  or  sub- 
mit to  be  tenants  to  those  most  of  whom  they  con- 
sider as  their  superiors  in  nothing  but  deeper  Art 
and  keener  Policy." 

The  Loyalists  were  widely  scattered  now.  Those 
who  had  been  in  London  during  the  war  had  lived 
in  comparative  poverty,  and  received  but  slight  con- 
sideration. As  Governor  Hutchinson — whose  His- 
tory Ellis  calls  "  that  marvel  of  temperate  recital 
under  the  pressure  of  natural  resentment " — simply 
remarks  :  "  We  Americans  are  plenty  here  and  very 
cheap.  Some  of  us  at  our  first  coming  are  apt  to 
think  ourselves  of  importance  but  other  people  do 
not  think  so,  and  few  if  any  of  us  are  much  con- 
sulted or  enquired  after."  Others,  less  philosophical 
under  neglect  and  ingratitude,  beset  the  Court  in 
the  vain  hope  of  winning  better  terms  for  their  fel- 
lows. But  the  fulfilment  of  the  repeated  promises  of 
the  British  officials,  confirmed  as  they  were  by  the 
King  and  Ministry,  had  depended  on  the  speedy 
conclusion  of  the  war,  and  their  reimbursement  was 
intended  to  be  at  the  expense  of  the  defeated  rebels. 

Their  treatment  throws  a  shadow  of  cruel  irony 
upon  Benjamin  West's  famous  painting  of  the 
Reception  of  the  Loyalists  by  Great  Britain,  wherein 


AMERICAN  FEELING.  487 

Religion  and  Justice  support  the  mantle  of  Britan- 
nia, who  extends  her  arm  and  shield  to  a  group  of 
Loyalists  led  by  Sir  William  Pepperell  and  William 
Franklin,  a  varied  group  of  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, priests  in  sacerdotal  robes,  lawyers  in  gowns 
and  wigs,  broad-brimmed  Quakers,  an  Indian  chief, 
negro  slaves. 

The  prevalent  sentiment  in  the  United  States  was 
expressed  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  as  for  ex- 
ample in  the  Massachusetts  Chronicle  of  May  — , 
1783  :  "  As  Hannibal  swore  never  to  be  at  peace 
with  the  Romans,  so  let  every  Whig  swear  by  his 
abhorrence  of  slavery,  by  liberty  and  religion,  by  the 
shades  of  departed  friends  who  have  fallen  in  battle, 
never  to  be  at  peace  with  those  fiends,  the  refugees, 
whose  thefts,  murders  and  treasons  have  filled  the 
cup  of  woe." 

Even  moderate  men  held  the  Loyalists  as  "  more 
malignant  and  mischievous  enemies  of  the  coun- 
try than  its  foreign  invaders,"  and  even  now  more 
to  be  dreaded  than  any  outside  foe.  When  such 
feeling  was  to  be  withstood,  the  only  safety  was  in 
the  speedy  removal  of  the  doomed  men,  and  the 
arrangements  for  the  embarkation  of  the  Loyahsts 
to  the  various  British  Provinces,  went  on  as  rapidly 
as  was  possible. 


XX. 

EXPATRIATION — A  NEW   HOME. 

THE  emigration  of  the  Loyalists  from  New  York 
began  in  September,  1782,  when  a  party  of 
three  hundred  sailed  for  Annapolis  Royal.' 
These  were  a  few  men  from  New  York  and  Long 
Island,  with  many  who  had  gone  to  the  city  early  in 
the  war  for  protection  within  British  lines,  or  later, 
for  conveyance  to  some  other  English  colony.  New 
York  was  the  chief  point  of  departure,  and  to  arrange 
for  their  removal  and  settlement  in  Nova  Scotia,  a 
Board  of  seven  had  been  appointed.  Of  these,  all 
were  from  New  England  ^  but  the  Reverend  Samuel 
Seabury,  son  of  the  rector  of  Saint  George's,  Hemp- 
stead, and  later,  first  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  and 
James  Peters,  son  of  Valentine  Hewlett  Peters,  and 
a  leader  among  The  Fifty-iive.     Oiificial  records  at 

'  Carleton  wrote  to  Governor  Hammond  of  Nova  Scotia,  that  six 
hundred  more  then  awaited  transportation. 

'  There  were  from  Massachusetts,  Lieut.-Colonel  Benjamin  Thomp- 
son (Count  Rumford),  Lieut.-Colonel  Edward  Winslow,  who  had  left 
Boston  with  General  Gage,  and  Major  Joshua  Upham,  of  Brookfield  ; 
from  Connecticut  were  the  Reverend  John  Sayre,  rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  Fairfield,  and  Amos  Botsford,  of  Newtown. 


PROVISION  FOR  THE  EXILES.  489 

Halifax  show  that  fully  thirty-five  thousand  Loyal- 
ists went  to  Nova  Scotia,  and,  except  in  a  few  indi- 
vidual cases,  that  bleak  countrj'  was  the  destination 
of  all  the  Long  Island  exiles. 

England  had  meant  to  be  generous  in  her  pro- 
vision for  those  cast  upon  her  bounty.  From  three 
hundred  to  six  hundred  acres  of  land  were  assigned 
to  every  family  ;  a  full  supply  of  food  for  the  first 
year ;  two-thirds  for  the  second,  and  one-third  for 
the  third  year.  Warm  clothing,  medicines,  ammu- 
nition, seeds,  farming  implements,  building  materials 
and  tools,  millstones,  and  other  requirements  for 
grist-mills  and  saw-mills  were  granted  and  given  out 
with  tolerable  fairness,  but  there  were  many  delays, 
much  poor  material,  and  errors  in  distribution  which 
worked  great  individual  suffering,  enhanced  by  the 
unexpected  severity  of  the  climate.' 

In  every  township  two  thousand  acres  were  re- 
served for  the  maintenance  of  a  clergyman,  and  one 
thousand  acres  for  the  support  of  a  school. 

Port  Roseway,''  just  east  of  the  southern  point  of 
Nova  Scotia,  had  been  first  chosen  as  their  destina- 
tion by  the  New  York  Loyalists,  and  in  the  fall  of 

'  "  Port  Roseway,  Jan.  .5th,  1784. 

"  All  our  gallant  promises  are  vanished  in  smoke.  We  were  taught 
to  believe  this  place  was  not  barren  and  foggy  as  had  been  represented, 
but  we  find  it  ten  times  worse. 

"  We  have  nothing  but  his  Majesty's  rotten  pork  and  unbaked 
flour  to  subsist  on.  '  But  can  not  you  bake  it  yourself,  seeing  it  is  so 
wooden  a  country  ?  '  Only  come  here  yourselves  and  you  will  soon 
learn  the  reason.  It  is  the  most  inhospitable  clime  that  ever  mortal 
sat  foot  on." 

*  The  name  is  a  corruption,  through  various  intermediate  forms,  of 
the  French,  Port  Razoir. 


490  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

1782  arrangements  were  making  for  their  removal 
thither.  A  Board  was  formed  of  which  Beverley 
Robinson  was  President.  Four  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  heads  of  families  were  divided  into  sixteen  com- 
panies, each  having  a  captain  and  two  lieutenants  to 
preserve  order,  to  distribute  provisions,  and  to  ap- 
portion lands.  Each  company  was  given  a  transport- 
ship  for  its  conveyance,  cannon,  and  ammunition. 
The  fleet,  composed  of  eighteen  square-rigged  ves- 
sels, several  sloops  and  schooners,  and  protected  by 
two  men-of-war,  left  New  York  April  27,  1783. 

Favouring  winds  brought  them  in  seven  days  to 
the  snow-wrapped  coast  on  which  they  were  to  find 
a  home.  They  were  met  at  Port  Roseway  by  sur- 
veyors from  Halifax.  Examining  the  country  and 
sounding  the  harbour,  they  chose  the  site  of  their 
town  at  its  head.  Five  parallel  streets,  sixty  feet  in 
width,  were  laid  out,  crossed  by  others,  each  square 
making  sixteen  lots,  sixty  feet  front  by  one  hundred 
and  twenty  deep.  A  Common  was  cleared,  tem- 
porary huts  of  bark  and  sods  thrown  up,  the  hill 
levelled,  its  hollows  filled,  and,  early  in  July,  the 
town  was  separated  into  the  North  and  the  South 
Divisions,  the  streets  were  named,  the  lots  num- 
bered, and  each  settler  given  a  farm  of  fifty  acres, 
besides  a  town  and  water-lot.  The  work  of  clearing 
and  building  went  on  rapidly,  and  the  semblance  of 
prosperity  shone  upon  the  settlement.  Early  in 
August  it  was  visited  by  Governor  Parr,  who  con- 
ferred upon  the  town  the  name  of  Shelburne.  We 
are  told  by  Haliburton  that  he  was  received  by  a 
procession   which   marched   through   King    Street, 


CONDITIONS  OF  LIFE  IN  SHELBURNE.        49 1 

after  which  "A  Collation"  was  served.  One  won- 
ders what  might  have  been  the  menu. 

In  October  another  fleet  arrived  from  New  York, 
contrary  to  the  stipulations  of  the  Associates,  bring- 
ing five  thousand  more  Refugees  and  doubling  the 
population  of  Shelburne.  The  Common  was  given 
up  to  the  new-comers,  set  off  in  two  Divisions,  Parr's 
and  Patterson's,  and  the  winter  was  an  anxious 
struggle  for  subsistence.  The  Association  which 
planned  the  settlement  of  Shelburne  had  based 
their  expectations  of  prosperity  upon  its  beautiful 
harbour  and  stately  forests,  where  every  tree  was 
fit  for 

"  Mast 
"  Of  some  great  ammiral." 

Commerce  and  ship-building  were  encouraged  by 
special  legislation.  Whale-fishery  was  attempted 
in  1784,  but  the  ambitious  venture  proved  a  failure. 
The  West  India  trade  was  monopolised  by  New- 
foundland and  New  England,  and  licenses  could  not 
be  easily  obtained  for  the  carrying-trade  between 
the  United  States  and  Newfoundland.  They  were 
too  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  harbour  to  make  the 
fisheries  profitable,  while  the  town  was  isolated  from 
the  other  settlements  of  the  Province  and  surrounded 
by  the  pathless  woods.  The  settlers  were,  by  all  the 
habits  of  their  previous  life,  unfitted  for  pioneers. 
As  soon  as  it  was  possible  to  escape  from  this  forest 
prison  they  removed  to  other  parts  of  the  Province 
— to  New  Brunswick,  or  some  even  returned  to  the 
United  States.     In  twenty-five  years  Shelburne  was 


492  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

a  deserted  town,  whose  vacant  houses  looked  down 
on  silent,  grass-grown  streets. 

Many  hundred  families  of  Loyalists  were  mean- 
while making  their  way  by  Lake  Champlain  and  the 
Sorel,  or  through  the  forests  of  Northern  New  York, 
over  weary  portages  between  the  water-ways  of  the 
Mohawk  and  the  Oswego,  to  found  settlements  at 
Kingston  on  the  Bay  of  Quinte,  at  York,  and  else- 
where on  the  northern  shores  of  Erie  and  Ontario. 
To  them,  by  an  Order  in  Council  in  1789.  wat  given 
the  name  of  United  Empire  Loyalists,  applied  to  all 
who  had  remained  with  or  joined  the  royal  standard 
before  the  Treaty  of  1783,  and  from  them  has  been 
built  up  the  prosperous  province  of  Ontario. 

But  the  migration  which  most  affected  Long 
Island,  which  was  really  the  exodus  of  Queens,  was 
"The  Spring  Fleet"  of  1783.  Plutarch  has  said 
"  Exile  was  a  blessing  the  Muses  bestowed  upon 
their  favourites."  But  not  alone  by  this  mark  of 
favour  did  the  expatriated  stand  high  ;  professional 
men  and  men  of  scholarly  leisure,  tenderly  reared 
women  and  little  children,  left  their  old  homes  of 
comfort  and  refinement  for  the  hardships  of  pioneer 
life  in  the  unbroken  wilderness  of  a  country  whose 
climate,  then  unmitigated  by  civilisation,  was  de- 
scribed in  a  contemporary  letter  as  "  nine  months 
winter,  and  three  months  cold  weather." 

The  Fleet '  conveyed  more  than  three  thousand 

'  It  consisted  of  twenty  square-rigged  ships  : 

The  Camel  Thames  Emmett  Lord  Tozuns/iend 

Union  Spring  William  King  George 

Aurora  Ann  Cyprus  Favourite 

Hope  Spence  Britain  Bridge-water 

Otter  Sail  Sovereign  Commerce. 


THE  HARBOUR   OF  SAINT  JOHN.  493 

persons  to  the  mouth  of  the  River  Saint  John.' 
There  were  then  on  the  shores  of  that  beautiful  har- 
bour, visited  by  De  Monts  and  Champlain  in  1604, 
but  the  ruins  of  Fort  de  la  Tour,  rebuilt  by  the 
English  as  Fort  Frederick,  and  burned  by  rebels 
from  Machias,  and,  near  the  Carleton  Ferry,  the  half- 
dozen  huts  of  a  few  men  engaged  in  fishing  and 
lime-burning."  The  site  of  the  future  city  was 
broken  ground  descending  from  the  heights  of  Fort 
Howe  to  the  deep  ravine  which  ran  through  the 
present  course  of  King  Street.  There  were  bald 
knobs  of  granite,  but  scantily  fringed  with  cedar, 
rising  above  the  heavy  spruce  forest,'  filled  in  with 
tangled  undergrowth  of  moose-wood  and  hobble- 
bush. 

On  Sunday,  May  i8th,  passing  Partridge  and  Navy 
Islands,  and  the  shore  of  Carleton  on  the  left,  the 
Fleet  anchored  in  the  upper  cove, — what  is  now 
Market  Slip  at  the  foot  of  Market  Square.  That 
spot  is  the  Plymouth  Rock  of  New  Brunswick,  for 

'  See  New  York  Gazette,  March  2g,  1783,  for  letters  of  Amos  Bots- 
ford,  written  from  Annapolis  Royal,  January  14th,  in  which  he 
describes  lands  in  the  Annapolis  Basin,  and  on  the  Saint  John 
River,  giving  the  preference  to  the  latter  in  climate,  productions, 
and  adaptability  to  the  exiles. 

^  It  was  called  Simond's  Station.  In  1762,  a  party  of  twenty  men 
from  Newburyport  came  to  explore  the  River  Saint  John.  The 
leaders,  James  Simonds,  James  White,  and  Francis  Peabody,  remained 
here,  while  the  others  went  up  the  river  to  St.  Anne's  Point  (Fred- 
ericton),  and,  attracted  by  the  fertile  intervales,  settled  at  Mauger's 
Island,  naming  their  township  Maugerville. 

'"The  Whole  City  was  then  in  a  perfect  State  of  Wilderness. 
The  wood  was  dreadfully  thick  and  greatly  encumbered  with  wind- 
falls."— Early  History  of  New  Brunswick,  Moses  H.  Perley. 


494  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

there  landed  her  founders,  men  eminent  through 
the  three  generations  of  their  descendants.  The 
spring  was  unusually  late  ;  snow  was  still  on  the 
ground  and  the  slow  verdure  of  the  North  had  not 
yet  come.  Tents  for  the  women  and  children  were 
hastily  made  of  ship-sails,  and  the  building  of  log 
cabins  was  at  once  begun. 

In  June,  came  "  the  Second  Spring  Fleet  "  of 
fourteen  vessels,  bringing  about  two  thousand  immi- 
grants. Two  of  the  ships,  the  Union  and  the  Two 
Sisters,  had  sailed  direct  from  Huntington  Harbour. 
The  Fall  Fleet  arrived  October  4th  with  twelve 
hundred  more  settlers.  Various  transports  with 
troops  and  stores  continued  to  arrive  until  Decem- 
ber. The  soldiers  were  tented  along  the  Lower 
Cove  and  in  the  present  Barrack  Square.  The 
winter  passed  drearily  to  those  who  struggled  against 
its  rigour  with  but  slight  shelter  and  scant  suste- 
nance. Old  diaries  and  letters  in  fast-fading  charac- 
ters still  attest  the  sufferings  and  endurance  of  the 
first-comers,  and  the  traditions  of  these  years  linger 
among  the  old  families  of  New  Brunswick  as  a  pre- 
cious legacy  of  sorrow,  a  sacred  inspiration  for  the 
present. 

Parrtown  and  Carleton  were  begun  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  river,  and  by  winter  there  were  at  least 
five  thousand  people  there.'     On  May  18,  1785,  the 

'  An  officer  on  the  ship  Due  du  Chatres  wrote  October  Ig,  1783. 
"  The  great  emigration  of  Loyalists  from  New  York  to  this  Province 
is  almost  incredible  :  they  have  made  many  new  settlements  in  the 
Bay  of  Funday  and  considerable  augmented  those  of  Annapolis 
Royal  &  St.  John's  River  :  they  are  so  numerous  at  the  last  mentioned 
place  as  to  build  two  new  towns,  Carleton  and  Parrtown.'' 


FOUNDATION  STONE   OF  THE  DOMINION.     495 

settlement  was  incorporated  under  royal  charter  as 
the  City  of  Saint  John.  Its  first  mayor  was  Colonel 
Gabriel  Ludlow  of  Queens  County,  who  held  the 
ofifice  until  his  resignation  in  1795.  Meanwhile,  the 
County  of  Sunbury,  Nova  Scotia,  which  included 
the  country  from  Chignecto  Bay  to  the  St.  Croix, 
on  August  16,  1784,  had  been  established  as  the 
Province  of  New  Brunswick,  with  Colonel  Thomas 
Carleton,  brother  of  Sir  Guy,  as  General  and  Com- 
mander-in-chief of  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  Canada. 

Saint  John  was  a  distributing  point  whence  the 
exiles  went  throughout  the  Province  and  to  other 
parts  of  British  America.  The  river,  its  Micmac 
name,  Ouygoudy,  meaning  highway,  was  the  road 
by  which  they  penetrated  to  the  upper  forests. 
Some  reaching  the  St.  Lawrence  ascended  its  course 
and,  settling  along  the  Great  Lakes,  joined  those  who 
came  directly  from  New  York,  as  United  Empire 
Loyalists,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  most 
prosperous  province  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.' 
It  was  through  them  that  a  representative  govern- 
ment was  obtained,  and  by  them  that  the  Dominion 
was  really  created,  by  enterprise  and  ability  which  a 
different  course  than  the  one  pursued  might  easily 
have  retained  within  the  United  States.  Goldwin 
Smith  well  sums  up  the  matter : 

"  Had  the  Americans  been  as  wise  and  merciful 
after  their  first  as  they  were  after  their  second  civil 

'An  immigration  justly  valued  by  the  English.  "It  may  be 
safely  said  no  portion  of  the  British  possessions  ever  received  so 
noble  an  acquisition." — Viscount  Bury,  Exodus  of  the  Western 
Nations,  vol.  ii.,  p.  334. 


496  EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 

war,  and  closed  the  strife  as  all  civil  strife  ought  to 
be  closed— with  an  amnesty,  British  Canada  would 
never  have  come  into  existence.  It  was  founded  by 
the  Loyalists  driven  by  revolutionary  violence  from 
their  homes.  These  men  were  deeply  wronged  and 
might  well  cherish  and  hand  down  to  their  sons  the 
memory  of  the  wrong.  They  had  done  nothing  as 
a  body  to  put  themselves  out  of  the  pale  of  mercy. 
They  had  fought,  as  every  citizen  is  entitled  and 
presumptively  bound  to  fight,  for  the  government 
under  which  they  were  born,  to  which  they  owed 
allegiance,  and  which  as  they  fought  gave  them  the 
substantial  benefits  of  freedom.  They  had  fought 
for  a  connection  which  though  false — at  all  events 
since  the  Colon}''  had  grown  able  to  shift  for  itself, 
was  still  prized  by  the  Colonies  generally,  as  might 
have  been  shown  out  of  the  mouths  of  all  the  several 
leaders  including  Samuel  Adams  the  principal 
fomentor  of  the  quarrel.  .  .  .  The  intelligence 
and  property  of  the  Colonies,  the  bulk  of  it  at  least, 
had  been  on  the  loyal  side,  .  .  .  nor  was  it  pos- 
sible to  fix  a  point  at  which  the  normal  rule  of  civil 
duty  was  severed  and  fidelity  to  the  Crown  became 
treason  to  the  Commonwealth."  ' 

From  this  impossibility  came  that  depopulation 
of  Long  Island  which  has  influenced  her  subsequent 
history,  and  which  has  carried  the  sons  of  her  Loy- 
alists wherever  the  Cross  of  Saint  George  greets  the 
rising  sun.  By  the  Saint  John  and  the  Gaspereaux, 
in  the  shadow  of  the  Selkirks,  or  on  the  shores  of 

'  See  Canada  and  the  Canadian  Question^  p.  98. 


CAREER   OF  THE  LOYALIST  DESCENDANTS.      497 

Puget,  steadfast  at  Kars,  or  leading  the  forlorn  hope 
in  the  death-assault  of  an  African  fort,  their  blood 
is  true  to  the  traditions  of  their  fathers  on  the  Hemp- 
stead Plains,  and  Long  Island  well  may  honour  her 
expatriated  children. 


APPENDIX  I. 

(For  page  351.) 

THE  HEMPSTEAD  RESOLUTIONS. 

These  Resolutions,  said  to  have  been  written  in  part  by  Daniel 
Kissam,  were  offered  for  publication  in  the  Royal  Gazette,  in  the 
following  note  from  their  principal  author  : 

' '  Mr.  Rivington  : 

"  You  are  requested  to  publish  the  following  resolutions  unani- 
mously adopted  at  the  most  numerous  Town  Meeting  which  has 
been  held  in  many  years. 

"HULET  Peters,  T.  C." 

The  Resolutions  were  published  April  6th.  In  a  later  number  of 
the  paper  they  are  commented  on  by  "  A  Freeholder  of  Hempstead," 
one  of  those  who  "  think  the  Union  of  the  Colonies  in  a  general  and 
spirited  plan  of  opposition  absolutely  necessary  to  the  preservation 
of  our  rights. " 

The  Resolutions  are  as  follows '  : 

"  Hempstead,  April  4,  1775. 

"  At  this  critical  time  of  public  danger  and  distraction,  when  it  is 
the  duty  of  every  honest  man  and  friend  to  his  country,  to  declare 
his  sentiments  openly  and  to  use  every  endeavour  to  ward  off  the 

'  American  Archives,  series  iv.,  vol.  ii. ,  p.  273. 
499 


500  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

impending  calamities  which  threaten  this  once  happy  and  peaceful 
land  ; 

"  We,  the  Freeholders  and  Inhabitants  of  Hempstead,  being  law- 
fully assembled  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  April,  1775,  have  voluntarily 
entered  into  the  following  conclusions  : 

"  ist.  That  as  we  have  already  borne  true  and  faithful  allegiance 
to  his  Majesty  King  George  the  Third,  our  Gracious  and  lawful  sov- 
ereign, so  we  are  firmly  resolved  to  continue  in  the  same  line  of  duty 
to  him  and  his  lawful  successors. 

"  2d.  That  we  esteem  our  civil  and  religious  liberties  above  any 
other  blessings  and  those  only  can  be  secured  to  us  by  our  present 
constitution  ;  we  shall  inviolably  adhere  to  it,  since  deviating  from 
it,  and  introducing  innovations  would  have  a  direct  tendency  to 
subvert  it,  from  which  the  most  ruinous  consequences  might  justly  be 
apprehended. 

''3rd.  That  it  is  our  ardent  desire  to  have  the  present  unnatural 
contest  between  the  Parent  State  and  her  Colonies  amicably  and 
speedily  accommodated  on  principles  of  constitutional  liberty,  and 
that  the  union  of  these  Colonies  with  the  Parent-state  may  subsist 
until  Time  shall  be  no  more. 

' '  4Jy.  That  as  the  worthy  members  of  our  General  Assembly,  who 
are  our  only  legal  and  constitutional  representatives,  have  petitioned 
his  most  gracious  Majesty,  have  sent  a  Memorial  to  the  House  of 
Lords  and  a  Petition  to  the  House  of  Commons,  we  are  determined 
to  wait  patiently  for  the  issue  of  those  measures,  and  to  avoid  every- 
thing that  might  frustrate  those  laudable  endeavours. 

"  Sfy-  That  as  choosing  Deputies  to  form  a  Provincial  Congress  or 
Convention,  must  have  this  tendency,  be  highly  disrespectful  to  our 
legal  representatives  and  also  be  attended  in  all  probability  with  the 
most  pernicious  effects  in  other  instances,  as  is  now  actually  the  case 
in  some  Provinces— such  as  shutting  up  Courts  of  Justice,  levying 
money  on  the  subjects  to  enlist  men  for  the  purpose  of  fighting 
against  our  sovereign,  diffusing  a  spirit  of  sedition  among  the  people, 
destroying  the  authority  of  constitutional  assemblies  and  otherwise 
introducing  many  heavy  and  oppressive  grievances — we  therefore  are 
determined  not  to  choose  any  Deputies,  nor  to  consent  to  it  but  do 
solemnly  bear  our  testimony  against  it. 

"  6ly.  We  are  utterly  averse  to  all  mobs,  riots  and  illegal  proceed- 
ings by  which  the  lives,  peace  and  property  of  our  fellow  subjects 
are  endangered,  and  that  we,  to  the  utmost  of  our  power,  will  support 


APPENDIX  I. 


501 


our   legal  magistrates  in  suppressing  all  riots  and  preserving  the 
peace  of  our  liege  sovereign, 

"  HuLET  Peters, 

"  Clerk." 

Could  "  honest  men  "  and  good  citizens  do  less  than  here  resolved  ? 
Yet  these  Resolutions  branded  all  concerned  therewith  as  "Tories," 
the  synonym  of  traitor. 


APPENDIX  II. 

(For  page  353.) 
ARTICLES  OF  ASSOCIATION. 

The  "Articles  of  Association  adopted  by  the  Freeholders  and 
Inhabitants  of  the  City  and  County  of  New  York,  on  Saturday,  the 
29th  of  April,  and  transmitted  for  signing  to  all  the  Counties  in  the 
Province,"  were  drawn  up  by  James  Duane,  John  Jay,  and  Peter 
Van  Schaack.  The  Long  Island  Counties  settled  upon  their  own 
forms  of  association,  although  the  documents  were  essentially  the 
same. 

.  In  Suffolk  County  the  various  Committees  of  Correspondence  met 
in  the  ' '  County  Hall "  to  choose  Deputies ;  Articles  of  Association 
were  drawn  up  and  subscribed,  June  8,  1775  : 

"  Persuaded  that  the  Salvation  and  Rights  and  Liberties  of 
America  Depend  under  God,  in  the  firm  union  of  its  Inhabitants  in 
the  vigourous  Prosecution  of  the  measures  necessary  for  its  safety 
and  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  preventing  the  Annarchy  and  Con- 
fusion which  attend  a  Dissolution  of  the  powers  of  Government, 

' '  We  the  Freeholders  and  inhabitants  within  the  Bounds  of  the 
4th  Militia  Company  of  Brookhaven,  being  greatly  alarmed  at  the 
avowed  Design  of  the  Ministry  to  raise  a  Revenue  in  America,  and 
Shocked  by  the  Bloody  Scene  now  acting  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay, 
DO  in  the  most  solemn  manner  resolve  never  to  become  Slaves  :  And 
do  associate  under  all  the  ties  of  Religion,  Honour  and  Love  to  our 
Country,  to  adopt  and  Endeavour  to  carry  into  Execution  whatever 
measures  may  be  recommended  by  the  Continental  Congress,  or  re- 
solved upon  by  our  Provincial  Convention  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
serving our  Constitution  and  opposing  the  Execution  of  the  several 
arbitrary  and  oppressive  Acts  of  the  British  Parliament  until  a  recon- 

502 


APPENDIX  II.  503 

ciliation  between  Great  Britain  and  America  on  Constitutional  Prin- 
ciples (which  we  most  ardently  desire)  can  be  obtained,  and  that  we 
will  in  all  things  follow  the  advice  of  our  General  Committee  respect- 
ing the  purpose  aforesaid,  the  preservation  of  peace  and  good  order 
and  the  safety  of  Individuals  and  private  property." 

To  this  are  signed  one  hundred  and  twenty  names,'  twenty- 
six  of  which  are  marked  with  a  cross,  their  owners  desiring 
"  more  time  for  consideration,  or  who  do  dissent."  Easthampton 
notes  that  the  Articles  are  "  signed  by  every  male  capable  of  bearing 
arms."  In  the  Precinct  of  Islip  it  is  said  that  "  Some  of  us  are  of 
the  people  called  Quakers  and  mean  to  act  no  farther  than  is  con- 
sistant  with  our  Religious  Principals."  No  Quakers  signed  the 
Articles. 

In  Brooklyn,  the  people  of  Kings  County  express  themselves  on 
May  20th,  thus  prefacing  their  Articles  of  Association  : 

"  Having  considered  the  expediency  of  concurring  with  the  free- 
holders and  freemen  of  the  City  and  County  of  New  York  and  the 
other  Counties,  Townships  and  Precincts  of  this  Province,  for  hold- 
ing, continuing  and  maintaining  a  Provincial  Congress  of  Deputies 
chosen  out  of  the  whole  population,  to  advise,  consult,  watch  over, 
protect  and  defend  at  this  very  alarming  crisis  all  our  civil  and  reli- 
gious rights,  liberties  and  privileges  according  to  their  collective 
prudence. 

"  After  duly  weighing  and  considering  the  unjust  plunder  and  in- 
human carnage  of  our  brethren  in  the  Massachusetts  who  with  the 
other  New-England  colonies  are  now  deemed  by  the  Mother  Coun- 
try to  be  in  a  state  of  actual  rebellion,  by  which  Declaration  England 
has  put  it  beyond  their  own  power  to  treat  with  New-England,  or 
to  propose  or  receive  any  terms  of  reconciliation  until  those  Colonies 
shall  submit  or  become  a  conquered  country  the  first  effort  to  effect 
which  was  by  military  and  naval  force  ;  the  next  attempt  is  to  bring 
a  famine  (a  dreadful  engine  of  war)  amongst  them,  by  depriving 
them  of  both  their  natural  and  acquired  rights  of  fishing.  .  .  . 
Further  contemplating  the  very  unhappy  act  by  which  the  power  at 
home  by  oppressive  measures  has  driven  all  the  other  Protestant 
Provinces,  we  have  all  evils  in  their  power  to  fear,  as  they  have  al- 
ready declared  all  the  Provinces,  aiders  and  abettors  of  Rebellion. 

"  Leffert  I.efferts, 

"  Clerk." 

'  See  Historical  MSS.  of  the  Revolution,  vol  i.,  pp.  49-64. 


504  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

The  Articles  of  Association  adopted  in  Queens  County  were  as 
follows  : 

"  We  the  subscribers  do  most  solemnly  declare  that  the  claims  of 
the  British  Parliament  to  bring  at  their  discretion  the  People  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  are  in  our  opinion 
absurd,  unjust  and  tyrannical  and  that  the  hostile  attempts  of  their 
Fleets  and  Armies  to  enforce  submission  to  these  wicked  and  ridicu- 
lous claims  ought  to  be  resisted  by  Americans.  And  therefore,  we  do 
engage  and  associate  under  all  the  ties  which  we  respectively  hold 
sacred,  to  defend  by  arms  these  United  Colonies  against  the  seid  hostile 
attempts,  agreeable  to  such  Laws  or  Regulations  as  our  Representa- 
tives the  Congresses,  or  future  General  Assemblies  of  this  Colony 
have,  or,  shall  for  this  Purpose  make  and  establish."  ^ 

To  this  manifesto,  there  are  from  all  the  county,  but  seven- 
teen names.  The  form  used  in  Suffolk  County  was  subscribed  in 
January,  1776,  by  thirty  freeholders  of  the  seceded  Cow  Neck,  and 
Great  Neck,  who  had  ' '  lately  belonged  to  the  company  of  Captain 
Stephen  Thorne."  But  the  Provincial  Congress  was  not  satisfied 
with  this  reception  of  its  Form  of  Association,  and  in  its  Journals  we 
find  the  following : 

"  Die  Mercurii,  9  ho.  A.M. 
"June  28,  1775. 

"  The  order  for  taking  into  consideration  the  state  of  Queen's 
County  being  read,"  the  Congress  took  into  consideration  the  state  of 
Queen's  County  ;  and  it  appearing  that  a  great  no.  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  said  County  are  not  disposed  to  a  representation  at  this  Board 
and  have  dissented  therefrom 

Resolved,  That  inasmuch  as  the  people  of  this  Colony  have  ap- 
pointed us  to  watch  over  their  preservation  and  defence  and  delegated 
unto  us  such  power  necessary  for  the  purpose,  such  dissent  ought  not 
to  be  of  any  avail,  but  that  the  said  County  as  well  as  every  other 
part  of  this  Colony  must  necessarily  be  bound  by  the  determination 
of  this  Congress." 

"^Historical  MSS.  of  the  Revolution,  vol.  i.,  p.  209. 


APPENDIX  III. 

(For  page  390.) 

"  DECLARATION. 

^^  By  Richard,  Viscount  Howe  of  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland  and 
William  Howe,  Esq.  General  of  his  Majesty's  Forces  in  AMERICA, 
the  King's  Commissioners  for  restoring  peace  to  his  Majesty s  Colo- 
nies and  Plantations  in  North-America,  &'c.  &'c. 

"  DECLARATION 

' '  Whereas  by  an  Act  passed  in  the  last  session  of  Parliament  to 
prohibit  all  trade  and  intercourse  with  the  colonies  of  New-Hampshire, 
Massachusetts-Bay,  Rhode-Island,  Connecticut,  New-  York,  New- 
yersey,  Pennsylvania,  the  three  lower  counties  on  the  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North-Carolina,  South-Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  for  other  purposes  therein  mentioned,  it  is  enacted.  It  shall 
and  may  be  lawful  to  and  for  any  person  or  persons  appointed  and 
authorized  to  grant  a  pardon  or  pardons  to  any  number  or  description 
of  persons  by  proclamation  in  his  Majesty's  name,  to  declare  any 
Provinces,  Colonies,  Plantations  or  Counties,  or  any  County  Town, 
Port,  District  or  place  in  any  Colony  or  Province  to  be  at  the  peace 
of  his  Majesty,  and  that  from  or  after  issuing  such  proclamation,  in 
any  of  the  aforesaid  Colonies  or  Provinces,  or  if  his  Majesty  should 
be  graciously  pleased  to  signify  the  same  by  his  Royal  Proclamation, 
then,  from  and  after  the  issuing  such  Proclamation,  the  said  Act  with 
reference  to  such  Colonies  shall  cease,  determine  and  be  utterly 
void. 

"  And  whereas  the  King  desirous  to  deliver  all  his  subjects  from 

505 


506  EARLY  LONG  LSLAND. 

the  calamities  of  war  and  otlier  oppressions  which  they  now  undergo, 
and  to  restore  the  said  Colonies  to  his  protection  and  peace  as  soon 
as  the  constituted  authority  therein  may  be  replaced,  hath  been  gra- 
ciously pleased  by  letters  patent  under  the  Great  Seal,  dated  the  6 
day  of  May  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  Majesty's  reign,  to  appoint 
Richard  Viscount  Howe  and  William  Howe,  Esq,  and  each  of  us 
jointly  and  severally  to  be  his  Majesty's  Commission  and  Commission- 
ers for  granting  his  free  and  general  pardon  to  all  those  who  in  the 
tumult  and  disorder  of  the  times,  may  have  deviated  from  their  first 
allegiance,  and  who  are  willing  by  a  speedy  return  to  their  duty,  to 
reap  the  benefits  of  the  royal  favour,  and  also  for  declaring  in  his 
Majesty's  name,  any  Colony,  Province  or  County,  or  any  County 
Town,  port,  district  or  place  to  be  at  the  peace  of  his  Majesty. 

"  We  do  therefore  declare  that  due  consideration  shall  be  had  to 
the  meritorious  services  of  all  persons  who  shall  aid  and  assist  in  re- 
storing the  publick  tranquillity  in  the  said  Colonies,  or  in  any  part, 
or  parts  thereof ;  that  pardons  shall  be  granted,  dutiful  representa- 
tions received  and  given  every  suitable  encouragement  for  promoting 
such  measures  as  shall  be  conducive  to  the  establishment  of  legal 
Government  and  peace,  in  pursuance  of  his  Majesty's  most  gracious 
purposes  aforesaid. 

"  Given  at  Staten-Island  the  14th  day  of  July,  1776. 

"  Howe 

"Wm.  Howe."i 

^American  Archives,  series  v.,  vol.  i.,  p.  1466. 


APPENDIX  IV. 


(For  page  422.) 


'  PETITION  AND  REPRESENTATION  OF  QUEEN'S  CO. 
IN  N.  Y. 


"  To  the  Right  Honourable  RICHARD,  LORD  VISCOUNT 
HOWE  of  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  to  his  Excellency,  the 
Honourable  WILLIAM  HOWE,  Esquire,  General  of  His 
Majesty's  Colonies  in  North  America  : 

"  The  humble  Representation  and  petition  of  the  Freeholders  and 
Inhabitants  of  Queen's  County  on  the  Island  of  Nassau  in  the  Pro- 
vince of  New  York  : 

' '  Your  Excellencies  having  by  your  Declaration  of  July  last  opened 
to  us  the  pleasing  prospect  of  returning  peace  and  security  long  ban- 
ished by  the  many  calamities  surrounding  us,  we  entertained  the  most 
sanguine  expectations  that  the  Colonies  would  at  length  have  sub- 
mitted to  their  duty  and  acknowledged  the  constitutional  authority 
they  have  so  wantonly  opposed. 

"When  we  compare  the  dismal  situation  of  the  country  suffering 
under  all  the  evils  attending  the  most  convulsive  state,  with  the  mild 
and  happy  government  it  had  before  experienced,  we  saw  no  ground 
for  hesitation  ;  from  happiness  we  have  fallen  into  misery  ;  from 
freedom  to  oppression  ;  we  severely  felt  the  change  and  lamented  our 
condition.  Unfortunately  for  us  these  hopes  were  blasted  by  the  in- 
fatuated conduct  of  the  Congress  :  Your  Excellencies,  nevertheless 
having  been  pleased  by  a  subsequent  Declaration  again  to  hold  up  the 
most  benevolent  offers  and  to  repeat  his  Majesty's  most  gracious  in- 
tentions toward  the  obedient. 

507 


So8 


MARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


"  Permit  tis  his  Majesty's  loyal  and  well-affected  subjects,  the  Free- 
holders and  Inhabitants  of  Queen's  County,  to  humbly  represent  to 
your  Excellencies  that  we  bear  true  allegiance  to  his  Majesty  King 
George  the  Third,  and  are  sincerely  attached  to  his  sacred  person,  crown 
and  dignity  ;  that  we  consider  the  union  of  these  Colonies  with  the 
parent  state  essential  to  their  well-being,  and  our  earnest  desire  is 
that  the  constitutional  authority  of  Great  Britain  over  them  may  be 
preserved  to  the  latest  ages. 

"  And  we  humbly  pray  that  your  Excellencies  would  be  pleased  to 
declare  this  County  at  the  peace  of  his  Majesty  and  thereby  enable  us 
to  receive  the  benefits  flowing  from  his  most  gracious  protection. 
"  Queen's  County  2ist  October  1776. 


John  Morrell 
Thos.  Hallet 
Chas.  Willet 

dpn    1SrngtraT](f 

Enoch  Martin 
Jonathan  Rowland 
John  Embree 
Benj.  Arisson 
Abraham  Lawrence 
Hallet  Wright 
Joseph  Wright 
Philip  Field 
John  Fowler 
Thos.  Blockley 
John  Marston 
Oliver  Thome 
Wm,  Lowere 
Wm.  Arisson 
Gilbert  Field 
Edward  Van  Wicklen 
Daniel  Young 
Wm.  Butler 
Jacob  Weeks,  Jun. 
Zebulon  Wright 
Simon  Waters 
Joseph  Latham 
Sam'l  Burr 


Joseph  Hegeman 
Henry  Dickeman 
March  McEwen 
Darius  Allen 
Israel  Oakley 
Tho's  Smith,  Jr. 
Isaac  Carpenter 
Richard  Weeks 
Robt.  Wilson 
Zebulon  Doty 
Dan'l  Hendrickson 
John  Bennet 
Jeronimus  Leisler 
Refine  Weeks 
Ab'm  Van  Wyck 
Ben'j  Cheshire 
James  Voorhies 
Cornelius  Suydam 
Charles  Justus 
Gabriel  Cock 
Solomon  Wooden 
John  Remsen 
Isaac  Keen 
Nathan  Skidmore 
Israel  Seaman 
Joshua  Tettil 
John  Mcintosh 


APPENDIX    IV. 


509 


John  Hewlett 
Stephen  Wood 
George  Watts ' 
Isaac  Denton 
Richard  Green 
Joseph  Bedell 
Jonah  Valentine 
Christian  Snediker 
Wm.  Langdon 
Ja's  Searing 
Wm.  Pearsall 
Jos.  Cadles 
Ja's  Cornwell 
Ephraim  Ludlow 
Cornel  Smith 
Amos  Smith 
Richard  Mott 
Cornelius  Bogart 
Tunis  Covert 
Jacob  Mott,  Jun. 
John  Sands 
Micajah  Townsend 
Jesse  Weeks 
Joseph  Haviland,  Jun. 
Wm.  Reid 
Elbert  Hoogland 
David  Roe,  Const. 
Joseph  Griffin 
John  Smith 
Samuel  Smith 
Sam'l  Fish 
Francis  Marston 
Tho's  Bennen 
Benj.  Farrington 
Thos.  Woodward 
Leonard  Lawrence 
Mathevir  Redet 
Baltus  Van  Kleeck 
Theophilus  Wright 
Gilbert  Golden  Willet 


Isaac  Underhill 

Peter  Underhill 

John  Williams 

Abraham  Snedeker 

Richard  Jackson 

Tho's  Jackson 

Geo.  Bayley 

Nicholas  Van  Cott 

Abm.  Allen 

Dan'l  Allen 

Hendrick  Hardenburgh 

Barrit  Snediker 

John  De  Verdito  (?) 

Garret  Wortman 

Dan'l  Van  Nostrand.  Jun. 

Richard  Hewlett 

Benajah  Bedel 

Francis'  Davenport 

Michael  Demott 

Elias  Burtis 

Edward  Allison 

Cha's  Cornwell 

Samuel  Jackson 

John  Le  Grass 

Richard  Gildersleeve 

Wm.  Gulman 

John  Hall 

Tho's  Jackson 

Jacob  Jackson 

Lorance  Fish 

George  Smith 

Jo's  Birdsall 

Sam'l  Carmen 

Jos.  Thomycraft 

Timothy  Townsend 

Jotham  Townsend 

W.  Townsend 

Ja's  Craft 

Cha's  Thorne 

Tho's  Kipp 


5IO 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


John  Weekes 
Jacobus  Ricker 
Abm.  Berrien 
Garrit  Luysler 
Benj.  Field 
John  Lawrence 
Abraham  Polhemus 
Nath'l  Hunt 
Abraham  BrinckerhofE 
John  Leverich 
Remsen  P.  Remsen 
John  Burroughs 
Jacob  Palmer 
John  Gorsline 
Rob't  T.  Collins 
John  Parsall 
Jacob  Bennet 
Abm.  Devine 
Jores  Brinckerhoff 
Peter  Smith,  Jun. 
Plat  Smith 
Waters  Lambertsen 
Nath'l  Woodruff 
Dan'l  Ludlam 
Simeon  Lugrin 
Nath'l  Higbee 
Nath'l  Smith 
Richard  Roads 
John  Losee 
John  Van  Hostrand 
Peter  Smith,  Sen. 
John  Remsen 
Tho's  Wiggins 
Michael  Flowers 
Sam'l  Thorne 
Edward  Hicks 
Tho's  Hicks 
Gilbert  Cornell 
John  Mitchell,  Jun. 
Obadiah  Cornwell 


Cornelius  Cornwell 
Augustine  Mitchell 
Sam'l  Hutchings 
John  Burtis 
John  WooUey 
Wm.  Milbourne 
Geo.  Rapalje 
Geo.  Rapalje,  Jun. 
Jas.  Morell 
Abm.  J.  Rapalje 
Stephen  Moore 
John  Rapalje 
Bern's  Rapalje 
Jesse  Fish 

Dijn')  N^ifjtranflt 

Christopher  Remsen 
Alexander  McMuller 
Richard  Gardiner 
Wm.  Steed 
Silas  Lawrence 
Nicholas  Wickoff 
Jacobus  Collier 
Abraham  Probasco 
Tho's  Youngs 
Cha's  Hicks 
Peter  H.  Waters 
Ezekiel  Roe 
John  Morrell 
Wm.  Prince 
James  Field 
Sam'l  Thorne 
Christopher  Roberts 
Jacob  Suydam 
Benj.  Thorne,  Jun. 
Joseph  Thome 
Sam'l  Smith,  Jun. 
Joseph  Carpenter 
Joseph  Cooper 
Thos.  Cheshire 
Dan'l  Weekes,  Jun. 


APPENDIX    IV. 


511 


Francis  Blackburn 
Robt.  Allen 
Zophar  Hawkins 
Jacob  Smith 
Robt.  Colwell 
John  Carpenter 
Corn's  Hoogland 
John  Remsen 
Abm.  Weekes 
Nath'l  Weekes 
Jacob  Weekes 
Tunis  Hoogland 
Anthony  Van  Nostrand^ 
Peter  Leister 
Peter  Leister,  Jun. 
Wm  Braambos 
Farnandus  Suydam 
Jacob  Dillingham 
Dan'l  Dodges 
John  Weekes 
W.  Cheshire 
Dan'l  Latten 
John  Carpenter 
Benj.  Barker 
Wm.  Fernbe 
Noah  Seaman 
Richard  Jackson 
Tunis  Covert 
James  Pettit 
Oliver  Willis 
George  Weekes 
Stephen  Hewlett 
Geo.  Watts,  Jun. 
Reuben  Pine 
Sylvester  Bedle 
Morris  Simonson 
Tho's  Hicks 
Sam'l  Pettet 
Stephen  Cornwell,  Jr. 
Timothy  Clowes 


Ja's  Smith 

Geo.  Baldwin 

David  Jackson 

Gilbert  Van  Wyck 

Sam'l  Smith 

Freeman  Please 

Isaac  Covert 

Jordan  Lawrence 

David  Laton 

Ja's  Pine 

Wm.  Frost 

Benj.  Latting,  Jun. 

John  Smith 

John  Skidmore 

Dan'l  Bailey 

P.  Nostrand 

Wm.  Smith 

Nath'l  Smith 

Wm.  Hendricksen 

Isaac  Mills 

Whitehead  Skidmore 

J.  D.  Peyster 

Chas.  Smith 

Wm.  Valentine 

Thos.  Ireland 

Gregory  Rete 

Martin  Schenck,  Jun. 

Peter  Monfort 

John  Clemens 

Hen.  Stocker 

John  WooUey,  Jun. 

Andries  Hegemen 

Thos.  Smith 

Dan'l  Ireland 

Wm.  Smith,  Cow  Neck 

John  Cornwall 

Sam'l  Alline 

John  Toffe 

Benj.  Smith 

Geo.  Hallet 


512 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


Ja's  Lewis 
Simon  Voris 
John  Suydam 
Rem.  Remsen 
\Vm.  Lambertsen 
Theodoras  Van  Wyck 
Wright  Thornycraft 
David  Valentine 
Jordan  Coles 
Mordecai  Beedle 
John  Henderson 
Stephen  Lawrence,  Jun. 
Nicholas  Ludlam 
W.  Hopkins,  Jun. 
Ambrose  Fish 
Tho's  Lawson 
Jacob  Bergen 
Lawrence  Marster 
Noah  Smith 
Nicholas  Smith 
Daniel  Whitehead 
Benj.  Everett 
Douw  Van  Dine 
Israel  Ditmars 
Garret  Ditmars 
Aury  Boeram 
Douw  Ditmars 
John  Ditmars 
Jacob  Remsen 
Nicholas  Jones 
Johannes  H.  Lott 
Henry  Hawkhurst 
Benj.  Hicks 
Newbury  Davenport 
Joseph  Kissam 
David  Allen 
Tho's  Lewis 
John  Carle 
Michael  Rogers 
Sam'l  Titus 


John  Rodman 
Jacob  Suydam 
Peter  Alburtis 
Benj.  Field 
George  Hicks 
Oliver  Waters 
Wm.  Waters 
Oliver  Talman 
Wm.  Talman 
John  Searing 
Wm.  Burns 
Hendrick  Eldert 
Tho's  Fowler 
Jacob  Griffin 
John  Van  Lien 
Robert  Monell 
Caleb  Valentine 
Nicholas  Coe 
Wm.  Lawrence,  Jun. 
David  Fowler 
Dan'l  Clement 
Dan'l  Hitchcock 
John  Monfort 
Pepperell  Bloodgood 
Caleb  Lawrence 
John  Thome 
Tho's  Foster 
John  Areson 
Darby  Doyel 
Issachar  Polock 
Benj.  Thome 
V.  Hicks 
John  Talman 
Stephen  Lawrence 
Somerset  Lawrence 
Rob't  Lawrence 
Sam'l  Wright 
Oliver  Cornell 
Joseph  Beesley 
Henry  Lowere 


APPENDIX    IV. 


513 


Nicholas  Loudon 
Jacob  Van  Wiclden 
Fra.  Conihane 
David  Charboyne 
Wm.  Waters 
Anthony  Wright 
A.  Remsen 
Joseph  Cooper,  Jun. 
Isaac  Whipps 
Michael  Weekes 
Sam'l  Robbins 
Simeon  Hauxhurst 
Townsend  Weekes 
Tho's  Place 
Jacobus  Suydam 
Rem.  Hardenburg 
George  Weekes 
Dan'l  Weekes 
JohnJVan  Noorstrandt 
Wm.  Snedeker 
S.  Claves 
W.  Pool 

Sam'l  H.  Davenport 
Wm.  Hewlett 
Ambrose  Seaman 
Jonathan  Gildersleeve 
Benj.  Smith,  R. 
Isaac  Jackson 
J.  Dorlon 
Tho's  Tredwell 
Jonathan  Cornelius 
Joseph  Smith 
Silas  Smith 
John  Fetherbe 
Tillot  Colwell 
Geo.  Downing 
Geo.  Bayles 
John  Tilley 
Jacob  Valentine 
Jacob  Carpenter 


Anthony  Weekes 
Annanias  Downing 
John  Schenck 
Wm.  Weyman 
James  Moore 
Wm.  Leverich 
John  Cnrtis 
John  Debevoise 
Abm.  Polhemus,  Jun. 
Joseph  Gorsline 
Jacob  Hallet,  Jun. 
John  Monel 
Joseph  Burroughs 
John  Ketcham,  Jun. 
Richard  Rapalje 
Jared  Curtis 
Abraham  Rapalje 
Wm.  Bennet 
Stephen  Renne 
Isaac  Brinckerhoff 
Wm.  Creed,  Jun. 
David  Lambertson 
Isaac  Amberman 
Wm.  Willis 
Mordecai  Willis 
Jos.  Skidmore,  Sen. 
Lewis  Davenport 
Aaron  Van  Nostragd 
Alan   Van  Nnst^md 
Dan'l  Rapalje 
Rulof  Duryee 
Obadiah  Mills 
Jeremiah  Remsen 
Robt.  Doughty 
Jo's  Lawrence 
Simon  Simons 
Amos  Mills 
Tennis  Covert,  Jun. 
John  Voorhies 
Stephen  Lott 


SH 


EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 


Derrick  Bensen 
Israel  Pettit 
James  Marr 
Jonathan  Furman 
Sam'l  Tredwell 
Robert  Dixon 
Charles  Cornell 
Nathaniel  Wright 
Stephen  Wright 
Domenicus  Van  Dine 
Arus  Van  Dine 
John  Remsen 
Stephen  Voris 
Clark  Cock 
Rem  Remsen 
H.  Higbie 

Hendrick  Emans,  Jun. 
Jonathan  Fish 
John  Talman 
Thos.  Furman 
John  Carpenter 
Sam'l  Clement 
Sam'l  Mott  Cornell 
Johannes  Bergen 
Peter  Ryerson 
Tho's  Fowler 
H.  Townsend,  Jun. 
J.  Van  Wicklen 
Jac.  Rhinelander 
Levi  Weekes 
Caleb  Underhill 
Dan.  Weekes 
Chas.  Burnett 
Richard  Weekes 
Robt.  Hall 
John  Robbins,  Sen. 
Baruch  AUer 
Daniel  Terry 
Isaac  Smith 
Arnold  Fleet 


Wm.  Hoogland , 

Dan'l  Duryee 

Jas.  Vancot 

John  Bennet,  Sen. 

John  Weekes,  Jun. 

Jeremiah  Cheshire 

Dan'l  Birdsall 

John  Duryee 

Garret  Monfort 

George  Duryea 

Edmund  Lindsay 

Absalom  Wooden 

John  Butler,  Jun. 

Josias  Latten 

Amariah  Wheeler 

Jo.  Wortman 

Joshua  Hammond 

Melancthon  Thorne 

Abraham  Seaman 

Sam'l  Townsend 

Penn  Cock 

Daniel  Van  Velred  (?) 

John  Allen 

Robert  Jackson 

Baruch  Snedeker 

Isaac  Robbins 

Jeronimus  Bennet,  Sen. 

Garret_Noorstrand-i-Jun . 

Benj.  Lester 

Richard  Langdon 

Ja's  Smith 

Luke  Cummins 

Benj,  Dorlon 

Henry  Miller 

Cornelius  VanNoojsland- 

John  Van  Noorstrand 

John  Birdsall 

Increase  Pettit 

Tho's  Felherbe 

Dan'l  Smith,  Jun. 


APPENDIX    IV. 


5IS 


Sam'l  Birdsall 
Sam'l  Jackson,  the  3rd 
Stephen  Coles 
Sam'l  Spragg 
John  Verity 
Abraham  Baldin 
Amos  Powell 
Micah  Williams 
John  Smith 
Stephen  Powell 
Thos.  Dorlon 
Benj.  Smith,  Jun. 
Seaman  Watts 
John  Baker 
Sam.  Carman 
P.  Pettitt 
John  Lefferts 
Thos.  Clowes 
Elijah  Spragg 
John  Townsend 
Richard  Townsend 
Ben.  Borland 
S.  Stringham 
Stephen  Baldin 
Richard  Bruer 
Isaac  Smith 
Frederick  Nostrand 
Jackson  Mott     ' 
Coles  Carpenter 
Nath'l  Coles 
;  Thos.  Underhill 
Benj.  Lattin 
John  Jackson,  Jun. 
Stephen  Thome 
Jas.  Bennett 
Peter  Sniffen 
Dan'l  Lawrence 
John  Moore 
Jacob  Moore 
Wm.  Sackett 


John  J.  Waters 

John  Bragaw 

Chas.  Debevois 

John  Kearns 

David  Van  Wickel 

Peter  Bragaw 

Abm.  Brinckerhoff,  Jun. 

Robt.  Field 

J.  Van  Aulst 

Howard  Furman 

Thos.  North 

John  Fish 

Joseph  Morrell 

Cornelius  Rapalje 

John  Williamson 

Wm.  Van  Wyck 

Isaac  Amberman 

Jacob  Ogden 

J.  Smith 

Abm.  Colyer 

Nicholas  Everitt 

Isaac  Rhoads 

John  Brush 

Sam'l  Messenger 

Nath'l  Mills 

Bernardus  Hendrickson 

Will  Colder 

John  Rice 

Sam'l  Smith 

John  Kissam 

Daniel  Kissam,  3rd 

John  Searing 

Wilson  Williams 

Thos.  Thome,  Jr. 

John  Tredwell 

John  Searing 

Elbert  Hegeman,  Jun. 

Adam  Mott,  Sen. 

Simon  Sands 

John  Smith 


5i6 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


Wm.  Comwell 

Jas.  Hewlett 

John  Mitchell,  Jun. 

Sam'l  Wooley 

Benj.  Cheeseman 

Philip  Valentine 

John  Marvin 

Richard  Townsend 

Richard  Townsend,  Jun. 

John  Golding 

John  Smith 

Daniel  Wyllis 

Elbert  Brinckerhoff 

Tennis  Bergen 

Robt.  Mitchell 

Jacob  Nostrand 

Edward  Burling 

Tennis  Brinckerhoff 

George  Brinckerhoff 

Isaac  Bragaw 

Sam'l  Seaman 

Charles  Hicks,  Jun. 

Walter  Skidmore 

Thos.  Valentine 

Reuleff  Vorhoes 

Nicholas  Provoost 
Jacob  Field 
David  Hallet 
John  Williams 
Sam'l  Carman 
Silas  Carman 
Richard  Lowden 
John  Snedeker 
Luke  Eldert 
John  Waters 
Sam'l  Skidmore,  Jun. 
Jacques  Johnson 
Cornelius  Bennett 
Albert  Snedeker 
Sam'l  Skidmore 


Philip  Allen 

Henry  Allen 

John  Allen 

Stephen  Van  Wyck 

Chas.  Hicks 

Nehemiah  Carpenter 

George  Comwell 

John  Cock 

Richard  Lattin 

John  Bremner 

Joseph  Place,  Cordwainer 

Luke  Bergen 

Sam'l  Thorne 

George  Thorne 

John  Roe 

Jacob  Gorsling 

Thos.  Lowere 

Sam'l  Moore,  Sen. 

Isaac  Lawrence 

Jacobus  Lint 

Abraham  Lint 

Isaac  Lint 

Thos.  Lawrence 

Samuel  Cornell 

Benj.  Everitt 

John  Burtis 

Hendrick  Suydam 

Cornelius  Ryersen 

Isaac  LeSerts 

Wm.  Glenne 

Martin  Rapalje 

Jacob  Carpenter 

Joshua  Carpenter 

Da.  Field 

Whit.  Field 

Joshua  Snediker 

W.  Creed,  Sen. 

Robt.  Coe,  Jun. 

Sam'l  Fosdick 

Abm.  V.  Wicklen 


APPENDIX    IV. 


517 


Nicholas  Weekes 

Johannes  Covert 

Geo.  Wright 

Absalom  Townsend 

Geo.  Youngs 

Thos.  Fleet 

W.  McCoron 

John  Robbins 

Jacob  Robbins 

Jacob  Van  Noorstrandt 

Micha  Wee£es 

Elias  Chardoyne 

Cornelius  Hoogland,  Jun. 

Johij  Doty 

Cornelius  Vancott 

Nicholas  Bennett 

W.  Bennett 

Daniel  Burr 

Somick  Birdsall 

Sam'l  Weekes 

Peter  Nostrandt 

John  Hewlett,  Sen. 

Joost  Duryea 

Henry  Powell 

John  Amberman 

H.  Ludlow,  Jun. 

Isaac  Weekes 

John  Schenck 

David  Tilby 

Robert  Townsend 

Daniel  Youngs,  Jun. 

John  Hauxhurst 

Jonathan  Gorham 

Chas.  Gulliver 

Henry  Townsend 

Minne  Van  Sicklen 

Isaac  Seaman 

Robt.  Jackson,  Jun. 

Jas.  Townsend,  Dr. 

Wm.  Crystall 


GarTgt_Njaorstraitdt 
John  Baker 
Gorce  Snedeker 
Sylvanus  Bedell 
W.  Welling 
Richard  Smith 
Jas.  Haurahan 
David  Sammis 
Annanias  Southard 
Jonathan  Pratt 
Jas.  Birdsall 
W.  Pettit 
Sam'l  Dorlon 
Dan'l  Smith 
Sam'l  Jackson 
Sam'l  Greene 
Richard  Smith 
Richard  Pine 
Sam'l  Dorlon 
Isaac  Smith 
Peter  Jones 
Garret  Colder 
John  Mott 
W.  Thurston 
Peter  Lowge 
Leffert  Hangewort 
Zebulon  Smith 
Wm.  Smith,  Jun. 
Thos.  Seaman 
Sam'l  Nichols. 
Timothy  Rhodes 
Gerardus  Clowes 
Benj.  Wiggins 
Thos.  Wiggins 
Sam'l  Abrams 
Jos.  Pettit,  Jun. 
Benj.  Dorlon 
Pelham  Sands 
Carman  Burtis 
Carman  Rushmore 


5i8 


EARL  V  LONG  ISLAND. 


Sam'l  Shaw 
David  Bedell 
Noah  Combs 
John  De  Mott 
Dan'l  Cock,  Jun. 
Townsend  Dickinson 
Rem.  Hegeman 
Dan'l  Coles 
Jeronimus  Bennet 
John  Probasco 
Michael  Mudge 
Solomon  Craft 
Chas.  Frost 
W.  Coles 
Thorn.  Goldin 
Benj.  Coles 
Geo.  Downing 
Clarke  Lawrence 
John  Moore,  Jun. 
Ja's  Moore 
Thos.  Morrell 
Jeronimus  Remsen 
Thos.  Betts 
George  Debevois 
Edward  Ortus 
Thos.  Hunt 
Wm.  Furman 
Gabriel  Furman 
John  Pettit 
John  Van  Alst,  Jun. 
Geo.  Sands 
John  Greenoak 
John  Greenoak,  Jun. 
Geo.  Rapalje 
John  Martin 
Martin  Johnson 
John  Amberman 
Tho's  Hindman 
Obadiah  Hindman 
John  Hindman 


Amos  Denton 
Sam'l  Higbie 
Dan'l  Everitt 
Lambert  Moore 
Dan'l  Smith 
Sam'l  Mills 
Aaron  Hendrickson 
Garrgt-Noorstraiidt 
Thos.  Martin 
Nath'l  Denton 
T-Benj.  Akerly 
Joseph  Hewlett 
John  Thomas 
Thos.  Pearsall 
Joseph  Thome 
Thos.  Hallowell 
H.  Sands 

Adrian  Onderdonk 
John  Whaley 
John  Morrell 
Israel  Baxter 
Philip  Wooley 
Joseph  Clement,  Jun. 
Richard  Place 
Sam'l  Way 
Martin  Schenck 
Peter  Losee 
Jonathan  Searing 
Jos.  Starkings 
Derrick  Albertsen 
Philip  Young 
J.  J.  Troup 
Andries  Kashaw 
Chas.  Cornell 
John  Mitchell 
Henry  Townsend 
W.  Frost 
Henry  Ludlam 
Jos.  Ludlam 
Jacob  Duryee 


APPENDIX    IV. 


519 


Dan'l  W.  Kissam 
John  Burtis 
Aaron  Duryee 
W.  Bennett 
Thos.  Cornell 
Hervey  Colwell 
Albert  Coles 
Rbt.  Thorney  Croft 
Baruch  Cornell 
Daniel  Kirby 
Comfort  Cornell 
Richard  Sands 
Dan'l  Abertson 
John  Whippo 
W.  Crooker 
Joseph  Lawrence 
Dan'l  Hopkins 
Thos.  Alsop 
MartiiLyan_Noostrandt 
Jeremiah  Post 
Sylvester  Cornell 
Edward  Colwell 
Thos.  Ludlam 
Dan'l  Cock 
John  Needham 
Joseph  Denton 
Robt.  Valentine 
W.  Willing 
Philip  Allen 

Birdsall,  Jun. 

Elijah  Wood 
Ja's  Pine 
John  Boerum 
John  Hendricksen 
Ja's  Wood 
W.  Cornell 
Richard  Hallet 
Obadiah  Valentine 
Geo.  Weekes,  Sen. 
Job  Duryee 


Joseph  Denton 
Aaron  Simonson 
Hendrick  Emmens 
Seaman  Weekes 
Jacob  Williams 
David  Waters 
Nicholas  Van  Andalen 
W.  Hallet 
Anthony  Rhoades 
Ja's  Wooden 
Jacob  Kashaw 
•  Chas.  Feke 
Daniel  Underhill 
Stephen  Denton 
Sam'l  Townsend 
Dan'l  Hall 
Elijah  Cook 
Gilbert  M'Cown 
John  Fleet 
John  Weekes,  Sen. 
Baruck  Underhill 
H.  Wheeler 
J.  Chiser 
Thos.  Wright 
Gabriel  Duryea 
Stephen  Hendricksen 
Garret  Bennett 
Augustine  M'Cown 
Nicholas  Wright 
W.  Burell 
Jacobus  Ryder 
Penn  Weeks 
Benjamin  Cock 
Luke  Fleet 
Sam'l  Cheshire 
Tice  Lane 
Derrick  Amberman 
Michael  Butler 
Robt.  Colwell 
Peter  Wheeler 


520 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


Israel  Remsen,  Jr. 

John  Townsend,  Jr. 

Joseph  Weekes 

Nicholas  Van  Cott 

John  Waters 

Jos  Hauxhurst 

Jacob  Bedell 

Wm.  Ludlam 

Jonathan  Seaman 

Jacob  Williams 

Gilbert  Wright 

John  Youngs 

Jeronimus  Bennet 

Peter  Hegeman 

Chas.  Simonson 

Adam  Mott 

Jacobus  Lawrence 

Epenetus  Piatt 

Dan'l  Hewlett,  Jun. 

Peter  Cock 

Caleb  Southward 

John  Pratt 

Oliver  Birdsall 
John  Pettit 
Joseph  Dorlen 

Samuel  Denton 
Townsend  Jackson 
Gershom  Smith 
Wm  Smith,  Jun. 
Benj.  Carman 
John  Post 
Tho's  Seaman 
Sam'l  Mott 
Sam'l  Mott,  3rd 
Parmenius  Jackson 
Joseph  Hall 
Jonathan  Hall,  Jun. 
Solomon  Pool 
Obadiah  Seaman 
Richard  Rhoades 


Samuel  Pettett 

Thos.  Borland 

Obadiah  Pettett 

Daniel  Murray 

Jonathan  Hegeman 

Joseph  Clowes 

Nicholas  Betty 

Samuel  Sands 

Ja's  Burtis 

John  Jackson 

Benjamin  Jackson 

Elias  Dorlon,  3rd 

Walter  Covert 

Samuel  Demott 

Jno.  Foster 

Jacamiah  Bedell 

Ja's  Townsend,  Jun. 

Obadiah  Lawrence 

Tim  Ellison 

Geo.  Bennett 

Amos  Underbill 

Peter  Thorny  Craft 

W.  Roe 

Samon  Crooker 

Jacobus  Luister 

Hewlett  Townsend 

John  Weekes 

Peter  Monfort 
Daniel  Debevois 
Jacob  Downing 
Jonathan  Smith 
Nicholas  Moore 
Nicholas  Moore,  Jun. 
Richard  Morrell 
Samuel  Waldron 
John  Way 
Benj.  Moore 
Geo.  Brinckerhoff 
Geo.  Brinckerhoff,  3rd 
Thos.  Burroughs 


APPENDIX    IV. 


521 


Hendrick  Jacobs 
James  Morrell 
J.  M'Donnough 
Edmond  Penfold 
Jeronimus  Rapalje 
Joseph  Burling 
Richard  Rhodes 
Nicholas  Ambennan 
Thos  Denton 
Amos  Denton,  Jun. 
Garret  Van  Wicklen 
Jacob  Lott 
Wm.  Ludlam,  Sen. 
Wm.  Forbus 
Thos.  Higbie 
Abm.  Hendrickson 
Albert  Hendrickson 
Thos.  Watts 
Jas.  Everett 
Nicholas  Mills,  Jun. 
Jabez  Woodruff 
Peter  Onderdonk 
Joris  Rapalje 
Elbert  Hegeman 
John  Burtis 
-Joseph  Ackerly 
Ed.  Perry 
Caleb  Morrell 
Hendrick  Onderdonk 
Jacob  Oumstead 
Andrew  Hegeman,  Jr. 
Wm.  Smith 
Timothy  Smith 
James  Howard 
Philip  Piatt  Smith 
Philip  Thome 
Chas.  Titus 
Sam'l  Titus 
Jacob  Valentine 
Benj.  Downing 


Benj.  Tredwell 
Benj.  Tredwell,  Dr. 
John  Bashford 
Thos.  Seaman  Cooper 
Richard  Fuller 
Philip  Thome 
Jeromus  Rapalje 
George  Duncan  Ludlow 
Daniel  Kissam 
Leonard  Cutting,  Rev'd 
David  Colden 
Gabriel  G.  Ludlow  Col. 
Joshua  Bloomer,  Rev'd. 
Abm.  Walton 
Charles  Ardin 
Valentine  Hewlett  Peters 
Jonathan  Fish 
Samuel  Fish 
Robt.  Crommelin 
John  Shoals 
Joseph  Field 
Thos.  Smith 
Sam'l  Cornell 
Hendrick  Brinckerhoff 
Dan'l  Hewlett,  Sen. 
Uriah  Piatt 
John  Stone 
Richard  Also}) 
Daniel  Duryee 
Chas  M'Evers 
Daniel  Feke 
Jacob  Mott 
James  Hallett 
Wm  Hallett 
Geo.  Ryerson 
Richard  Smith 
Abm.  Lawrence 
John  Townsend 
Stephen  Thome 
Dan'l  Brinckerhoff 


$22 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


Prior  Townsend 
Abm.  Schenck 
W.  Cock 
Richard  Titus 
Peter  Titus 
Peter  Titus,  Jun. 
Elbert  Adrianse 
Stephen  Frost 
Simon  Remsen 
Caspar  Sprong 
Cornelius  Rapalje 
Harman  Hendrickson 
James  Carpenter 
Penn  Frost 
John  Polhemus 
Wm.  Latting 
Jonathan  Morrell 
Edward  Thome 
Stephen  Thome,  Jr. 
John  Butler 
Stephen  Mudy 
Andrew  Ricker 
Thos.  Howell  Smith 
Geo.  Underbill 
John  Lambertson 
Isaac  Remsen 
Thos.  Cock 
Mowry  Kashaw 
Wm.  Wright 
Jonathan  Rosell 
Wm.  Reuben  Hall 
Procolus  McCown 
John  Needham,  Jr. 
Sam'l  Townsend 
Thos.  Colwell 
Sam'l  Hare,  Jun. 
Sam'l  Hare,  Sen. 
Sam'l  Jones 
Wm.  Jones 
David  Jones 


John  Jones 
Walter  Jones 
Wm.  Hall 
Abm.  Wansor 
John  Bennett,  Jr. 
Geo.  Townsend 
Jeremiah  Robbins 
Stephen  Robbins 
Daniel  Burr,  Jun. 
Daniel  Noostrand 
Hamomond  Leland 
John  Hewlett 
Garrett  Duryee 
John  Rider 
Henry  Wanser,  Jun. 
Peter  Nonstrand^Jun 
Levi  Cock 
Gideon  Wright 
Cornelius  Remsen 
Sam'l  Hawkhurst 
Wm.  Townsend 
Sam'l  Baulding 
Abel  Baulding 
Noah  Mott,  Jun. 
W.  Hawxhurst 
Wm.  Vanreelred 
John  Suydam 
John  Miller 
John  Cashaw 
Stephen  Vedito 
John  Noostran^t 
Elias  Wheeler 
Nehemiah  Sammis 
Sam'l  Langdon 
H.  Woolsey 
Solomon  Doxy 
Henry  Shaw 
Wm.  Stiles 
Solomon  Seaman 
John  Duryee 


APPENDIX    IV. 


523 


Joseph  Edall 
David  Dorlon 
Andrew  Allen 
William  Smith 
Richard  Jackson,  Jun. 
Richard  Jackson 
Obadiah  Jackson 
Johannes  Van  Cott,  Jun. 
John  Jackson 
Jacob  Seaman 
Morris  Green 
Sam'l  Combs 
Peter  Schenck 
John  Laton 
Peter  Thomas 
Wm  Stilwell 
John  Smith 
Coles  Mudge 
Wm.  Mudge 
John  Luyster 
Albert  Albertson 
Derrick  Albertson 
Joseph  Coles 
Benj.  Thorney  Croft 
Henry  Thorney  Croft 
Wm.  Laton 
Alb.  Van  Noostrand 
'Richard  Townsend 
Jarvis  Coles 
Benj.  Dowing 
Stephen  Smith 
Solomon  Moore 
David  Moore 
William  Howard 
Robt.  Coe 
Mr.  Lawrence 
John  Debevoise,  Jun. 
Daniel  Wiggins 
Teunis  Brinckerhoff 
Bernardus  Bloom 


Dan'l  Luyster 
Richard  Betts 
Robert  Jackson 
John  Snow 
Samu'l  Wainwright 
John  Denise,  Jr. 
John  Charlton 
John  Bennett 
John  Rhoades 
John  Montayne 
Abraham  Lett 
Benj.  Creed 
Joseph  Thome 
Daniel  Comwell 
Moses  Higbee 
Hope  Roads 
Cornelius  Losee 
Hendrick  Hendrickson 
Abraham  Ditmars 
Joseph  Golders 
Nicholas  Van  Dam 
Caleb  Knells 
James  Hughton 
Joseph  Oldfield 
Thos.  Thome 
Wm.  Hutchings 
Thomas  Dodge 
Jonathan  Hutchings 
Richard  Thome 
Thomas  Appleby 
Benj.  Wooley 
Hendrick  Van  Der  Bilt 
Sam'l  Latham 
Nicholas  Willson 
Henry  AUeine,  Sen. 
Samuel  Hewlett 
Benjamin  Sands 
John  Thome 
Samuel  Balding 
James  Crosher 


524 


EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 


Richard  Kirk 
Peter  Waters 
Wm.  Williams 
Caleb  Cornell 
William  Cox 
Powell  Amberman 
Jacob  Doughty 
John  Van  Nostrandt 


Joseph  Skidmore 
Abm.  Demott 
John  Kashaw 
Jo.  Coe 

Al.  Brinckerhoff 
Benj.  Tredwell 
Richard  Wiggins.' 


(1293) 


*  Am.  Archives^  series  v.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  1159-64. 


APPENDIX  V. 

(For  page  425.) 
THE  KINGS  COUNTY  ADDRESSERS. 


Rem.  Adriance 
Robert  Atkins,  2d 
Peter  Amberman 
Harmon  Ando 
John  Antonides 
Vincentius  Antonides 
Wm.  Axtel 

Lodowick  Bamber,  N.  V. 
Everts  Bancker,  Jun. 
Wm.  Barre 
Charles  Barre 
John  Beenem 
James  Bennet 
John  Bennet 
Peter  Bennet 
Jereh  Bennet 
Abraham  Bennet,  2 
Cornelius  Bennet 
William  Bennet,  2 
Lucas  Benberg 
Jan  Bennet 
Moses  Beedle 
Derrick  Bergen 
Tennis  Bergen 
Simon  Bergen,  "2 


Michael  Bergen 
Johannis  Bergen 
Thos.  Betts,  2 
Cornelius  Bise 
John  Blake 
Nicholas  Blom 
Gerritt  Boerum 
Ferdinant  Boerum 
Jacob  Boerum 
Johannes  Boerum 
John  Boerum 
Abraham  Bogart,  2 
Cars  Bogart 
Gisbert  Bogart 
John  Boyce 
Daniel  Boyd 
Jacques  Borkelow 
Harmanus  Borkelow 
Cornelius  Buys 
Daniel  Buys 
John  Buys 
Thomas  Colange 
George  Carpenter 
Martinus  Carshow 
Jacob  Carshow 


525 


526 


EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 


Wm.  Chardovoyne 
John  McClenachan 
Joseph  Compton 
Andries  Conselye 
John  Conselje 
Gabriel  Cook,  2 
Jacobus  Cornell 
Peter  Cornell,  2 
Wm  Cornell 
Isaac  Cornell 
John  Cornell 
Whitehead  Cornell 
Peter  Cortelyou 
Jacques  Cortelyou 
John  Covert,  3 
Richard  Covert 
Jeremiah  Covert 
Jacob  Cosyn 
Cornelius  Cozine 
John  Crawley 
John  Cowwenhoven 
John  R.  Couwenhoven 
James  Couwenhoven 
Nicholas  Couwenhoven 
Rem  Couwenhoven 
Casper  Crisper 
Harmon  Crisperpeer 
Johannes  Debevoise 
John  Debevoise 
Charles  Debevoise,  2 
Samuel  Debevoise 
Joost  Debevoise 
George  Debevois 
Jacobus  Debevoice 
Abm.  Deforest 
John  Demott 
Isaac  Denyse 
Denyse  Denyse 
Rutgers  Denyse 
Frederick  Depeyster 


John  De  Voe,  2 
John  Ditmars 
Johannes  Ditmars,  3 
John  J.  Ditmars 
Charles  Duryee 
Abraham  Duryee 
Simon  Duryee 
Charles.  T.  Duryee 
Cornelius  Duryee 
Christian  Duryee 
Johannes  Duryea 
Jacobus  Duryea 
Peter  Duryee,  2 
Isaac  Eldert 
Johannes  Eldert 
Thos.  Ellsworth 
John  Emans 
Jacobus  Emans,  2 
Abraham  Emans,  2 
Thos.  Everit 
John  Fooshert 
Colen  Folkertson 
Wm  Furman 
Robert  Galbraith 
John  Gavel 
Sara'l  Garrison 
Sam'l  Garresen 
Jacobus  Golden 
Geo.  Goslin 
Robt.  Hargrave,  N.  Y. 
John  Harris 
John  Hallet 
Frederic  Hatfield 
Adrian  Hegeman,  2 
John  Hegeman,  2 
Peter  Hegeman,  2 
Jacobus  Hegeman 
James  Hegeman 
Everts  Hegeman 
Petrus  Hegeman 


APPENDIX   V. 


527 


Joseph  Hegeman 
Abraham  Hegeman 
Rem  Hegeman 
Tenuis  Hegeman 
Israel  Horsefield 
Thos.  Horsefield 
C.  Wm  Howard 
Joseph  Howard 
Jacob  Hicks 
Samuel  Hubbard 
Bernardus  Hubbard 
Elias  Hubbard,  2 
James  Hubbard 
John  Hulst 
Wm.  Johnson 
John  Johnson 
Hendrick  Johnson 
Coert  Johnson 
Fornant  Johnson 
Barent  Johnson,  3 
Daniel  Jones 
Jacob  Kershaw 
Tunis  Kershaw 
Wm.  Kowenhoven 
Peter  Kowenhoven 
Gerrit  Kowenhoven 
Court  Lake 
Derrick  Lake 
Daniel  Lake 
Leffert  Lefierts,  2 
Hendrick  Lefferts 
Jacob  Lefferts 
Barent  Leiierts 
Nicholas  Lefferts 
Jan  Lequier 
Abm.  Lequer 
John  Lewis 
John  McClenachan 
Roeloff  Lott 
Engelbert  Lott,  2 


Johannes  Lott,  2 
Petrus  Lott 
Johannes  E.  Lott 
John  Lott 
Hendrick  Lott 
Christopher  Lott 
Simon  Lott 
Jeromus  Lott 
Jurien  Lott 
Maurice  Lott,  2 
Gerrit  Martense,  2 
Adrian  Martense 
Jores  Martense,  2 
Lefferts  Martense 

Isaac  Martense 

Leonard  May 
Jacob  Meserole 
John  Milber 

Garret  Middagh 

John  Middagh 

David  Molenaar 

Geo.  Moore 
Abm.  Murff 

John  Murphe 

Petrus  Muesenbeldt 

Petrus  Neefus 

Peter  Neefus 

John  Myford 

Philip  Nagal 

John  Nostrand 

Garret  Noostrandt 

John  Oake 

Hendrick  Oake 

Thos.  Piersall 

Wm  Plownar 

Theo'd's  Polhemus,  2 

Abraham  Polhemus 

John  Polhemus 

Jonathan  Post 

Thos.  Powels 


528 


EARL  Y  LONG  ISLAND. 


Peter  Praa  Provoost 
John  Rapalje,  Jun. 
Daniel  Rapalje 
George  Rapalje 
Teunis  Rapalje 
Folkert  Rapalje 
Jores  Rapalje 
Martin  Reyers 
Joseph  Reyers 
Johannes  Remsen 
John  A.  Remsen 
Abraham  Remen 
William  Remsen 
George  Remsen 
Derrick  Remsen,  2 
Aris  Remsen 
Jeromus  Remsen 
Rem  A.  Remsen 
Joris  Remsen,  2 
Edward  Reynolds 
John  Casper  Rubell, 

V.  D.  M. 
Barnardus  Ryder 
Laurence  Ryder 
Samuel  Ryder 
Stephen  Ryder 
Wilhelmus  Ryder 
Jacob  Ryerson 
John  Ryerson,  2 
Hendrick  Schenck 
Stephen  Schenck,  2 
Nicholas  Schenck 
Martin  Schenck,  2 
John  Schenck,  2 
Jan  Schenck 
Caleb  Schofield 
Benj.  Seaman 
Chas.  Semper 
Isaac  Selover 
Jacob  Sickels 


Hendrick  Sickels 
Daniel  Simonsen 
Frederick  Simonsen 
Evert  Shareman 
John  Skillman 
Thos.  Skillman 
John  Smith 
Lewis  Sness 
Isaac  Snedeker,  2 
Abrabam  Snedeker 
Johannes  Snedeker 
Jacob  Snedeker 
David  Sprong 
Gabriel  Sprong 
Stephen  Sprong 
William  Sprong 
Volkert  Sprong,  Jr. 
Jacobus  Suydam 
Hendrick  Suydam,  4 
John  Suydam,  3 
Lambert  Suydam 
Hendrick  H.  Suydam 
Vernandt  Suydam 
Andrew  Suydam 
Evert  Suydam 
Tunis  Suydam 
Fernandus  Suydam 
Jacobus  Suydam 
Sam'l  Sullen 
Albert  Terhune 
Roeloff  Terhune 
Chas.  Titus 
David  Titus 
Frans  Titus 
Tetus  Titus 
Teunis  Tiebout 
Henry  Van  Bueren 
Israel  Van  Brunt 
Albert  Van  Brunt 
Adrian  Van  Brunt 


APPENDIX    V. 


529 


William  Van  Brunt 
Rufert  Van  Brunt,  4 
Cornelius  Van  Brunt 
Cort  Van  Brunt 
Jan  Van  Duyn 
Cornelius  Van  Duyne,  3 
Jan  Van  Dyne 
John  Van  Wyck 
William  Van  Dyck,  2 
Hendrick  Van  Cleef 
John  Van  Cleef,  2 
David  Van  Cleef,  2 
Aert  Van  Pelt 
Wynant  Van  Pelt 
Johannes  Van  Pelt,  2 
Rem  Van  Pelt,  2 
Jacob  Van  Nuys 
Wilhelmus  Van  Nuys 
Joost  Vnn  Nuys 
Ulpianus  Van  Sinderem, 

V.  D.  M. 
Cornelius  Van  Sice 
Chas.  Van  Sice 
Garret  Van  Sise 
John  Van  Sicklen 
Fernandes  Van  Sicklen 
Johanes  Van  Sicklen 
Emant  Van  Sickel 
Jeremias  Vanderbilt 
John  Vanderbilt,  2 
Rem.  Vanderbilt 
Peter  Vanderbilt,  2 
Wm.  Vanderwoorst 
Paul  Vanderwoorst 
Jan  Vanderwoorst 
John  Vanderwoorst 
Michael  Vanderwoorst 
Lambert  Vanderwoorst 
John  Vanderveer,  2 

34 


Hendrick  Vanderveer 
Cornelius  Vanderveer,  Jr. 
Gerrit  Van  dine 
Mat  Vandyke 
Isaac  Vandergelder 
Jacobus  Vandeventer 
Burger  Vandewater 
Peter  Vandewater 
John  Van  Varck 
Cornelius  Van  Zinse 
Niclase  Vegte 
Joseph  Vonet 
Adrian  Voorhees 
Abraham  Voorhees 
Laurence  Voorhees 
Peter  Voorhees 
Stephen  Voorhees 
Robert  Voorhees 
John  Voorhees 
Aert  Voorhees 
Thos.  Whitlock 
Joseph  White 
Garret  Williamson 
William  Williamson 
Jeremiah  Williamson 
Peter  Williamson 
David  Wortmer 
Nicholas  Williamson 
Barent  Wyckoff 
Nicholas  Wyckoff 
Peter  Wyckoff 
Hendrick  Wyckoff 
Johannes  Wyckoff 
Cornelius  Wyckoff 
Joost  Wyckoff 
Gerritt  Wyckoff 
John  Youngs 
Samuel  Zeller 

(454  names) 


APPENDIX  VI. 


LIST    OF    BOOKS   CONSULTED. 


Adams,  Henry.     History  of  United  States. 

"       John,  Journals  of. 
Alexander,  William,  (Lord  Sterling),  Life  of.     W.  A.  Duer. 
Alvord,  John  W.     Bi-Centennial  of  Stamford.     1840. 
America,  Being  an  Accurate  Description  Thereof.     John   Ogilvy. 
London.     1670. 
"        Chronological    Observations    of.     John    Josselyn,    Gent. 

London.     1674. 
"        Critical  History  of.     Justin  Winsor. 
' '         Discoveries  of.     Arthur  James  Weise. 
"         Nevves  from.     John  Underbill.     London.    1638. 
"        North,  Geological    View  of  (in  Cuvier's  Theory  of  the 

Earth).     Samuel  Latham  Mitchell. 
"  "        Travels  in,   in   1786.     Jean  Fran9ois  Chastellux, 

Paris,  1790. 
"  "       Travels  in,  in  1749.    Peter  Kalm.    London.   1772. 

"  "  "      "  Middle  Settlements  of,  in  1759.  Andrew 

Burnaby. 
American  Archives,  series  iv.  and  v.     Peter  Force. 
"         Biography.     Jeremy  Belknap.     1794. 
"        History,  Critical  Period  of.     John  Fiske. 
"  "        Magazine  of. 

"        Revolution,  Diary  of.     Frank  Moore. 

Historical  MSS.  of. 
"  "  History  of.     Carlo  Guiseppe  Botta. 

"  "  John  Fiske. 

"  "  Incidents  of.     Henry  Onderdonk. 

"  "  Journal  of.     R.  Lamb. 

530 


APPENDIX   VI.  531 

Atwater,  Edward  E.     Collections  of  New  Haven  Historical  Society. 

Baird,  Charles  W.     History  of  Huguenot  Emigration. 

Bancroft,  George.     History  of  the  United  States. 

Bartram,  F.  S.     Retrographs  of  New  York. 

Bates,  Walter.     Kingston  and  the  Loyalists.     Saint  John.     1886. 

Battles  of  the  United  States.     H.  C.  Dawson. 

Bayless,  R.     Early  History  of  Suffolk  County. 

Belknap,  Jeremy.     American  Biography.     1794. 

Benson,  Egbert.     Indian  and  Dutch  Names  of  Long  Island.      1809. 

Bergen,  Teunis.     Early  History  of  Kings  County. 

Block  Island,  Early  History  of.     Robert  Dodge. 

"      S.  T.  Livermore. 
Bond,  Henry.     Genealogical  History  of  Watertown,  Mass. 
Botta,  Carlo  Guiseppe.     History  of  the  American  Revolution. 
British  Prisons.     Henry  Onderdonk. 
Brooklyn,  Battle  of.     A  Farce.     Anonymous. 
"         History  of.     Gabriel  Furman. 
"       H.  D.  Styles. 
Burnaby,  Andrew.     Travels   in   the  Middle  Settlements  of  North 

America. 
Chalmers,  George.    Political  Annals  of  the  United  Colonies  to  1763  ; 

Revolt  of  the  Colonies. 
Chastellux,  Jean  Fran9ois.     Travels  in  North  America. 
Cotks,  George  W.     Glen  Cove  of  the  Past.     1893. 
Colonial  Era,  The.     George  P.  Fisher. 

"        Records  of  Connecticut.     Benjamin  Trumbull.     1797. 
"        Tracts.     Peter  Force. 
Curwin,  Samuel,  Journal  of. 

Dankers  and  Sluyter.     Visit  to  New  York.     1 679-1680. 
Darling,  Charles  W.     New  Amsterdam  ;  New  Orange  ;   New  York. 
Dawson,  H.  C.     Battles  of  the  United  States. 
Da  Co^ta,  B.  F.     Verrazano's  Letter.     (Coll.   N.   Y.    Hist.   Soc'y, 

ser.  i.,  vol.  ii.) 
De  Laet,  Johann.     De  Novis  Orbis.     Leyden.     1624. 
Denton,  Daniel.     A  Description  of  New  York.     London.     1670. 
Dodge,  Robert.     Early  History  of  Block  Island. 
Duer,    William    Alexander.      Life   of   William    Alexander,  (Lord 

Sterling). 
Easthampton,  History  of.     John  Lyon  Gardiner. 
•  '  "         "      George  R.  Howell. 


532  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

Easthampton,  Town  Records  of. 

Eaton,  Arthur  Wentworth.     The  Church  in  Nova  Scotia. 

Ellis,   George.     The    Loyalists   (in  Winsor's  America,   vol.  vii.); 

Life  of  Benjamin  Thompson,  (Count  Rumford). 
England,  History  of.     John  Lingard. 

"        "   in  the  Eighteenth  Century.     William  E.  H. 

Lecky. 
English  Notes  and  Queries. 
Essex  Institute,  Historical  Collections  of  the. 
Excursion  in  the  United  States.     Henry  Wansey. 
Fanner,  .     Notes  on  Long  Island. 

Felt,  Joseph  B.     Annals  of  Salem. 
Femow,   Berthold.     Documents  of  the  Colonial  History  of  New 

York. 
Field,  T.  W.     Battle  of  Long  Island. 
Fisher,  George  P.     The  Colonial  Era. 
Fiske,  John.     The  American  Revolution  ;    The  Critical   Period  of 

American  History. 
Fitz  Maurice,  Edmund  George  Petty.     Life  of  Lord  Shelburne. 
Flatbush,  History  of.     Strong. 

"        Social  Life  of.     Gertrude  Lefferts  Vanderbilt. 
Flushing,  History  of.     Mandeville. 

"        Records  of  the  Men's  Meeting  of. 
Force,  Peter.     American  Archives  ;  Political  Tracts. 
French,  J.  H.     Gazetteer  of  New  York. 
Furman,    Gabriel.       Antiquities    of    Long    Island  ;      History    of 

Brooklyn. 
Gaine,  Hugh.     Universal  Register. 
Gardiner,  John  Lyon.     History  of  Easthampton. 

"         Lion.     The  Pequot  Warres. 
Generall  Historie.     Captain  John  Smith.     London.     1626. 
Gentleman's  Magazine.     London.     1731-90. 
Geological  Guide  to  the  United  States.     James  Macfarlane. 
Geology  of  the  State  of  New  York.     W.  W.  Mather. 
Gerard,  James.     Deborah  Moody. 
Glen  Cove,  Bi-Centennial  Address.     H.  Scudder. 
Glen  Cove  of  the  Past.     George  W.  Cocks.     1893. 
Greenleaf,  Thomas.     Laws  of  New  York. 
Hakluyt,  Richard,  Voyages  of. 
Hannay,  James.     The  Loyalists  ;  Saint  John.     1892. 


APPENDIX   VI.  I  /533 

Hempstead,  Annals  of.     Henry  Onderdonk.     Hemstead.     1878. 

Antiquities  of.     Henry  Onderdonk.    Hempstead.  1878. 
"  Early.     Charles  B.  Moore.     1870. 

"  North,  and  Roslyn.     Henry  Onderdonk. 

"  Town  Records,  1657-1784. 

Hildreth,  Richard,     History  of  the  United  States. 
Historical  Magazine,  1857-1874. 

Hoadley,  Charles  J,     Records  of  New  Haven  Colony,  1638-1665. 
Howell,  George  R.     History  of  Easthampton  ;  Suffolk  County. 
Hubbard,  William.     History  of  Indian  Wars. 

"  "  "        "  Massachusetts  Colony,  1677. 

Huguenot  Emigration,  History  of.     Charles  W.  Baird. 

"         Society,  Collections  of.     Alfred  V.  Wittmeyer. 
Huntington,  Elijah  B.     History  of  Stamford. 
Huntington,  Town  Records  of. 

Hutchinson,  Thomas.     Diary  of  ;  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 
Indian  Names  of  the  Hudson.     Henry  R.  Schoolcraft. 
"  "       "  Long  Island.     William  Wallace  Tooker. 

"      and  Dutch  Names  of  Long  Island.     Egbert   Benson.     i8og. 
' '      Wars,  History  of.     William  Hubbard. 
Jamaica,  Antiquities  of  the  Church  of.    Henry  Onderdonk.  Jamaica, 
1880. 
"         History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of.     MacDonald. 
"         Records  of  Christ  Church. 

Town  Books  of.     1657-1775. 
Janvier,  Thomas  Allibone.     In  Old  New  York. 
Jogues,  Isacq.     Novum  Belgium.     1643. 
Johnson,  Edward.     Wonder- Working-Providence  of  Sion's  Saviour. 

London.     1654. 
Johnston,  Alexander.     Connecticut. 

Jones,  Thomas.     History  of  New  York  City  during  the  Revolution. 
Josselyn,   John,    Gent.     Chronological    Obsei-vations  on  America, 

1674  ;  Account  of  Two  Voyages  to  New  England,  1673. 
Kalm,  Peter.  Travels  in  America,  1749.  London.  1772. 
Kings  County,  Early  History  of.     Teunis  Bergen. 

History  of.     H.  D.  Styles. 
Kingston  and  the  Loyalists.     Walter  Bates.     Saint  John.     1886. 
Lamb,  Martha  J.     History  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

"       R.     Journal  of  the  Revolution. 
Lambrechtsen,  N.  C.     Korte  Beschreijvung  van  de  Ontbedekkung. 
Amsterdam.     1819. 


534  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

awrence,  J.  W.     Footprints  of  the  Loyalists.     Saint  John.     1883. 
Laws  of  New  York.     Thos.  Greenleaf. 
Lechford,  Thomas.     Plain  Dealings,  or  Newes  from  New  England. 

London.     1641. 
Lecky,   William  E.    H.     History  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth 

Century. 
Lewis,  Alonzo.     History  of  Lynn.     1840. 
Lingard,  John.     History  of  England. 
Livermore,  S.  T.     Early  History  of  Block  Island. 
Long  Island,  Antiquities  of.     Gabriel  Furman. 
Battle  of.     T.  W.  Fields. 
History  of.     Nathaniel  Prime. 

"         "      Benjamin  F.  Thompson.     1839. 
Notes  on.     Farmer. 
Plains  of.     W.  C.  Watson. 
Towns,  Settlement  of.     Silas  Wood. 
Loyalists,  The.     George  Ellis  (in  Winsor's  America,  vol.  vii.). 
"  "         History  of.     Adolphus  Edgerton  Ryerson. 

"  "         American,  History  of,     Lorenzo  Sabine. 

"  "        Footprints  of.  J.  W.  Lawrence.  Saint  John.  1883. 

Lynn,  History  of.     Alonzo  Lewis.     1840. 
MacDonald.     History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Jamaica. 
Macfarlane,  James.     Geological  Guide  to  the  United  States. 
McMaster,  John  Bach.    History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States. 
Magnolia,  Christi.     Cotton  Mather. 
Mandeville.     History  of  Flushing. 
Massachusetts  Bay,  History  of.     Thomas  Hutchinson. 

"  Colony,  History  of.  William  Hubbard.  London.  1677. 

Mather,  Cotton.     Magnalia  Christi. 

W.  W.     Geology  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
Military  Journal.     John  Graves  Simcoe. 

Mitchell,  Samuel  Latham.     Geological  View  of  North  America. 
Moody,  Deborah.     James  Gerard. 
Moore,  Charles  B.     Early  Hempstead.     1870. 
"       Frank.     Diary  of  Revolution. 

"       William  H.     History  of  Saint  George's  Church,  Hempstead. 
Morris,  Gouverneur.     Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Morton,  Nathaniel.     New  England's  Memorial.     London.     l66g. 
Moulton,  H.  S.     View  of  New  Orange.     London.     1673. 
Myers,  Theodorus  Bailey.     Tories,  or  Loyalists,  in  America. 


APPENDIX   VI.  535 

Murdoch,  Beamish.     History  of  Nova  Scotia. 

Murphy,  Henry  C.     Nieuw  Nederlandfs  Anthologie. 

Nature  Displayed.     Charles  Varlo. 

New  Albion.     Beauchamp  Plantagenet. 

New  Amsterdam,    New  Orange,   and   New    York.      Charles  W. 

Darling. 
New  Amsterdam  Records. 

New  Brunswick,  Early  History  of.     Moses  Perley. 
New  England,  Account  of  Two  Voyages  to.     John  Josselyn,  Gent. 
London.     1673. 

"         "  Annals  of.     Thomas  Prince. 

History  of.     John  G.  Palfrey. 

"         "  "  John  Winthrop. 

"         "  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register. 

New  England's  Memorial.     Nathaniel  Morton.     London.     1669. 

"         "  Prospect.     William  Wood.     London.     1634. 

New  Haven  Colony,   Records  of,  1638-1665.     Charles  J.  Hoadley. 

"         "       Historical  Society,  Collections  of.     Edward  E.  Atwat.er. 
New  Netherland,  History  of.     E.  B.  O'Callaghan. 
New  Orange,  View  of.     H.  S.  Moulton.     London.     1673. 
Newtown,  History  of.     James  Riker. 
New  York.     E.  H.  Roberts.  ^ 

"         "        Theodore  Roosevelt. 

"         "   Annals  of.     J.  F.  Watson. 

"   Calendar,  New  York  Historical   MSS.     E.  B.  O'Callag- 
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"         "   Description  of.     Daniel  Denton.     London.     1670. 

"         "   Documentary  History  of.     E.  B.  O'Callaghan. 

"         "   Documents     of    the    Colonial     History    of.       Berthold 
Fernow. 
"   Gazetteer  of.     J.H.French. 

"         "  "        "      1802. 

"      Spofford.     1813. 

"         "   Genealogical  and  Biographical  Record.     1869-95. 

"         "    Historical  Society,  Collections  of. 

"         "    History  of.     H.  S.  Moulton. 

"         ••  "         "the   Province  of.      William   Smith.     New 

York.     1756. 

"         "    and  New  Netherlands,  History  of.    J.  Romeyn  Brodhead. 

"         "   City,  History  of .     Martha  J.  Lamb. 


536  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

New  York  City,  History  of.     David  T.  Valentine. 
"        "      "      Manuals  of  the  Common  Councils  of.     David  T. 
Valentine. 
"     Memorial  History  of. 
"     during  the  Revolution.     Thomas  Jones. 
Journals  of  the  Council  of  the  Colony  of,  1691-1711. 
"  "      Provincial  Congress  of. 

"  "      Legislature  of. 

Laws  of.     Thomas  Greenleaf. 
Old.     (Periodical.) 

"    In.     Thomas  AUibone  Janvier. 
Retrographs  of.     F.  S.  Bartram. 
Two  Years'  Journal  in,  1678-80.     Charles  Wolley. 
Visit  to,  1679-80.     Dankers  and  Sluyter. 
NicoU,  H.     Early  History  of  Suffolk  County. 
Nieuw  Nederlandt.     Adriaen  Van  der  Donck. 
Nieuw  Nederlandt s  Anthologie.     Henry  C.  Murphy. 
Nieuw  Nederlandt,  Korte  Beschridjoung  van  de  Ontbedekkung.     N. 
C.  Lambrechtsen.     Amsterdam.     1819. 
"  "  Register,  1626-74.     E.  B.  O'Callaghan. 

Nova  Caesaria,  History  of  Colony  of.     Samuel  Smelt. 
Nova  Scotia,  The  Church  in.     Arthur  Wentworth  Eaton. 
"         "       Collections  of  the  Historical  Society  of. 
"         "       History  of.     Beamish  Murdoch. 
Novis  Orbis,  De.     Johann  De  Laet. 
Novum  Belgium.     Isacq  Jogues.     1643. 

O'Callaghan,  E.  B.     Calendar  New  York  Historical  MSB.;  Docu- 
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New  Netherland  Register. 
Ogilby,  John.     America,   being  an   Accurate  Description  thereof. 

London.     1670. 
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Incidents  of  the    Revolution  ;    North  Hempstead  and  Roslyn  ; 
Suffolk  County. 
Oyster  Bay,  Town  Books  of. 
Palfrey,  John  G.     History  of  New  England. 
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Perley,  Moses.     Early  History  of  New  Brunswick. 
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Thomas  Lechford. 


APPENDIX   VI.  537 

Political  Tracts.     Peter  Force. 

in  Boston  Athenaeum. 
Prime,  Nathaniel.     History  of  Long  Island. 
Prince,  Thomas.     Annals  of  New  England. 
Queen's  County,  Book  of  Enterys  of. 
Queens  County,  History  of. 
Remembrancer,  The.     An  Impartial  Repository.     London.     1767- 

1784. 
Revolt  of  the  United  Colonies.     George  Chalmers. 
Riker,  James.     Early  History  of  Newtown. 
Roberts,  E.  H.     New  York. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore.     Gouvemeur  Morris  ;  New  York. 
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Sabine,  Lorenzo.     The  American  Loyalists. 
Saint  George's  Church,  History  of.     W.  H.  Moore. 

"         "  "        Records  of. 

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Suffolk  County.     Henry  Onderdonk. 
"  "        George  R.  Howell. 

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I  53$  EARLY  LONG  ISLAND. 

\     / 
Suffolk  County,  Early  History  of.     H.  NicoU. 
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United  Empire  Loyalists'  Centennial. 
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"  "        History  of.     Hfnry  Adams. 

"  "  "       "       George  Bancroft. 

Richard  Hildreth. 

"  "  "       "      John  Bach  McMaster. 

"  "        Political  History  of.     Goldwin  Smith. 

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Verrazano's  Letter.     B.  F.  De  Costa. 
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Watson,  W.  C.     Plains  of  Long  Island. 
Whittaker,  Epher.     History  of  Southold. 
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London.     1654. 
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INDEX. 


Adams,   John,   quoted,   342  ;   as 

Peace  Commissioner,  456 
Adams,  Samuel,  358 
Alexander,  Sir  William,  Earl  of 

Sterling,  original  grants  to,  15, 

118-120  ;  reiteration  of  claims, 

187 
Amboyna  Tragedy,  The,  276 
Anabaptists  at  Gravesend,  112 
Andres,    Edmond,    appointment 

of.  315  ;  journey  through  Long 

Island,  315  ;    petition    to   the 

King  against,  316 
Anthologie  van   Nieuw    Neder- 

landt,  8g,  gi. 
Argall,  Samuel,  false  claims  of, 

12 
Armen  Bouwerie,  'T,  168 
Associations  formed,  353 
Attainder  and  Confiscation,  Acts 

of,  452,  469 
Axtel,  Col.  William,  100,  428 

B 

Barneveldt,  prophecy  of,  10 

Barrier  reefs,  25 

Baxter,  George,  102,  112,  275, 
278 

Bedford,  settlement  of,  86 

Belknap,  Jeremy,  correspond- 
ence of,  346 

Bellamont,  Earl  of,  letters  of  the, 
326 


Bennet,  Willem  Adrianse,  81 

Bentyn,  Jacques,  81 

Bergen,  Teunis,  quoted,  65,  93, 
95 

Birdsall,  Freelove,  422 

Birds  of  Long  Island,  31 

Black  List,"  "  The,  356 

Block,  Adrian,  voyage  of,  6  ; 
winters  on  Manhattan,  7  ;  sails 
through  the  Sound,  8  ;  before 
the  Council  of  the  Nether- 
lands, g 

Blockhouses,  30 

Block  Island  named,  3 

Bloomer,  the  Rev?  Joshua,  211, 
429 

Bombay  Hook,  degradation  of 
name,  66 

Bowne,  John,  177 

Breuckelen,  38  ;  origin  of  name 
of,  79 ;  incorporated,  82  ;  first 
church  in,  84  ;  old  records  de- 
stroyed, 87 

British  Army,  devastations  by 
the,  419,  420,  433,  434  ;  re- 
moved from  Long  Island,  455 

Brookhaven,  settlement  of,  256  ; 
first  Meeting-house  of,  257  ; 
great  estates  of,  258 

Brooklyn,  the  Battle  of,  285- 
400 ;  fortifying,  385  ;  Col. 
Rufus  Putnam  at,  386  ;  Gen. 
Greene,  at  388  ;  Gen.  Israel 
Putnam  at,  388  ;  forces  en- 
gaged in,  389  ;   British  plan  of 


539 


540 


INDEX. 


attack,    389 ;    awaiting    the, 

391  ;   preliminary  skirmishes, 

392  ;  position  of  the  armies, 

393  ;  movement  of  the  British, 
394 ;  line  of  defence,  398  ; 
roll  of  prisoners,  399 ;  the 
night  after,  401  ;  council  of 
war,  403 ;  withdrawal  of 
troops,  404  ;  Lieut.-Col.  Kem- 
ble's  account  of,  407  ;  a  farce, 
410 

Brush  Plains,  the,  30 
Buell,  the  Rev?  Dr.,  248 
Bull-baiting,  334,  432 
Burger  Joris,  83,  162,  171 
Bumaby,  the  Rev?  Andrew,  44 
Burnett,  the  Rev?  Matthias,  204, 

431  . 
Bushwick,  incorporation  of,  lOl  ; 
boundary  quarrel  with   New- 
town, loi ;  hamlets  included 
in,  102 


Calf-keeper,  the,  the  cowherd, 
and  the  pinder,  135 

Cape  Breton,  celebrating  the 
surrender  of,  329 

Carleton,  settlement  of,  494 

Carleton,  Sir  Guy,  appeal  to, 
478,  483  ;  removes  the  British 
army,  455 

Caroline  Church,  258 

Caumsett,  253 

Centre  Island,  125,  189 

Charles  II.'s  purchase  of  Lord 
Sterling,  281  :  proclaimed  on 
Long  Island,  287  ;  gift  to  the 
Duke  of  York,  293 ;  appoints 
commissioners,  293 

Charter  of  Liberties,  318 

Childs,  Dr.  Robert,  2i 

Christiaenzen,  Hendrick,  6 

Chronological  observations  on 
America,  12 

Church,  the  Stone,  205 

Claesen,  Hendrick,  36 

Claims,  Board  of,  make  no  ad- 
justment, 421 


Clinton,  George,  333  ;  presents 
Fifth  Article  to  New  York 
Legislature,  466,  468 

Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  expedition 
to  Suffolk  County,  439,  445 

Coal,  search  for,  22 

Colden,  Cadwallader,  as  a  natu- 
ralist,  185  ;    Whig  hatred  of, 

350,  374.  379.  478 

Colgan,  the  Rev?  Thomas,  209 

College  of  the  XIX.  11,  petition 
to  166 

Colonisation,  English  and  Dutch 
systems  contrasted,  222 

Colve,  Captain,  in  authority  at 
New  Orange,  308 

Commodities  of  Manati,  35 

Common,  rights  of,  132 

Coney  Island,  27,  114 

Confession  of  Faith,  the  Hemp- 
stead, 351 

Confiscation,  Act  of  Attainder 
and,  469 

Congress,  Continental,  the,  350, 
354,  363,  364.  366,  367,  373 

Congress,  Provincial,  the,  Queens 
Co.,  refuses  to  send  delegates 
to,  351  ;  new,  convoked,  353  ; 
Queens  County  put  out  of  the 
protection  of,  337-360  ;  peti- 
tions to,  362-366,  373 

Connecticut  annexes  the  English 
settlements,  169 ;  renounces 
claims,  299 ;  Easthampton 
wishes  reunion  with,  306 ; 
Loyalist  prisoners  sent  to,  383 

Connecticut  River,  discovery  of, 

9 

Conservatism  suffers,  477 

Convention  of  New  York,  383 

Cornbury,  Lord,  appropriates 
disputed  ground,  102  ;  at  Ja- 
maica, 206 

Cortelyou,  Jacques,  90,  290 

Costell,  William,  39 

Counties  organised,  117 

Court,  the  General,  167  ;  of  Ses- 
sions, 304 

Cow  Neck,  attempted  settlement 
of,    121  ;     secession  of,   415  ; 


INDEX. 


541 


acts  of  exclusion  and  banish- 
ment by,  417 
Cromwell  sends  fleet  to  reduce 
the  Manhattans,  277 ;  ac- 
knowledges the  Dutch  rights, 
280;  letter  to  L.  I.  from, 
279 

D 

Dairy  products,  138 
Dankers  andSluyter,  visit  of,  43 
Dauphine,  La,  voyage  of,  2 
De  Laet's,  Johann,  map  of  1630, 

4  ;  De  Novis  Orbis,  34 
DeLancey,  Oliver,  430  ;   brigade 
of,   430 ;    third    battalion   of 
brigade  of,  431 
De  Laucey,  Stephen,  430 
Denton,    Daniel,   description  of 
New  York  by,  40 ;    clerk   of 
Hempstead,  140  ;  clerk  of  Ja- 
maica, ig8  ;  founds  Elizabeth- 
town,  N.  J.,  2QO 
Denton,  the  Rev?  Richard,  126, 

149,  172 
Denudation,  amount  of,  26 
Domestic  manufactures,  139 
Domines,  Dutch,  84,96,97,  113, 

168,  171 
Domine's,  Iloeck,  'T,  168 
Dongan,    Governor,    igi,   317 ; 
addressed    by    Easthampton, 

243 
Dordrecht,  Synod  of,  79,  172 
Dosoris,  67 
Doughty,  the  Rev?  Francis,  163, 

165.  174 
Dry  rivers,  the,  20 
Duke  of  York,  the,  patent  to  the, 

293 
Duke's  Laws,  the,  301 
Dutch  blood,  influence  of,  336 
Dutch  churches,  at  Jamaica,  212  ; 
Success,  Wolver  Hollow,  New- 
town, 213 
Dutch  claims,  extent  of  the,  9, 
77,  261  ;  Parliament  urged  to 
decide  upon,  267  ;  Van  Tien- 
hoven's    negotiation    of    the, 
267 


Dutch  settlements,  77  ;  organisa- 
tion of  the  Five  Towns,  78  ; 
census  of,  103 

Dutchess  County,  migration  to, 
337 

E 

Earl  Palatine  of  North  America, 
66 

Ear-marks,  137 

Easthampton,  settlement  of,  240  ; 
joined  to  Connecticut,  242 ; 
protest  of,  243  ;  address  to 
Dongan,  243  ;  exclusive  spirit 
of,  244  ;  ministers  in,  248  ; 
schools  of,  249  ;  population  of, 
250 ;  pledges  itself  to  Conti- 
nental cause,  369 

East  Riding,  the,  refuses  to  ac- 
knowledge Colve,  308  ;  expe- 
dition to  reduce  the,  311 

Eaton,  Governor,  Code  of,  235  ; 
land  conveyances  to,  239 

Eaton's  Neck,  25 

Episcopal  Church,  Ministry  Act 
for  the,  150 ;  St.  George's 
Church,  154,  156  ;  Grace 
Church,  212  ;  Caroline  Church, 
258 

Epitaphs,  curious,  214 

Excise  on  Long  Island,  331 

Expatriation    of    the    Loyalists, 

488-497 

F 

Farret,   James,    117,    118,    120, 

123,  174,  187,  221 
Feake,  Henry,  166 
Federal   union    originated  with 

the  Dutch,  78 
Fence  stealing  punished,  92 
Ferry,   the    first,   on    the    East 

River,  82 
Figurative  Map,  the,  9,  32 
Fire  Island,  21 
Fireplace,  61 
Firewood  furnished  British  army, 

447 
Fisher's  Island,  26,  223 ;  trans- 
fers of,  234 


542 


INDEX. 


Flatbush,  evolution  of-the  name, 
94 ;   church  of,  95  ;   Avenue, 
100 
Flatlands  settled,  88 
Fleet,"  "  The  Spring,  492 
Fletcher,  Governor,  325 
Flora  of  Long  Island,  31 
Flushing,   settled,  173  ;  Remon- 
strance,  176  ;  horticulture  in, 
183 
Fordham's,  Mr.,  Plains,  131 
Forest  laws,  38 
Fort  Franklin,  435 
Fort  Neck,  battle  of,  49  ;  sold  to 

Thomas  Townsend,  195 
Fortune,  the,  and  the  Tiger,  6 
Fox,  George,  at  Gravesend,  113  ; 
at  Flushing,   178  ;    at  Oyster 
Bay,  194 
Fox-hunting,  432 
France  neglects  her  right,  3 
Franchise,  restrictions  of,  235 
Franklin,   Benjamin,  in  the  ne- 
gotiation for  peace,  457,  460 
Freeman,  Domine  Bernardus,  97 
Free  trade  on  Long  Island,  331 
French  and  Indian  War,  interest 
in    the,    327 ;    levies    on    the 
Friends,  l8l  ;  provincial  mili- 
tia for  the,  329 
Friends'     Meeting     established, 
159  ;     yearly    meeting,     180 ; 
records  of  men's   meeting   of 
Flushing,  185 
Fruit-culture  introduced  by  Wal- 
loons, 183 
Fur-trade  secured  by  the  Dutch, 
6 

G 

Gardiner,  Lion,  53  ;  tomb  of, 
2i6  ;  arrival  of,  in  Boston, 
217  ;  at  Saybrook,  218  ;  Rela- 
tion of  the  Pequot  Warres  by, 

219  ;  purchase  of  Monchonock, 

220  ;     life    in    Easthampton, 
221 

Gate  rights,  135 

Gazette,  New  York,  quoted,  Ii8. 
428  ^ 


Gazette,  Rivington's  New  York, 
quoted,  432,  435 

Gerretsen's,  Martin,  Bay,  78  ; 
location  of,  128-130 

Gildersleeve,  Richard,  131,  149, 
165,  175 

Glacial  deposits,  16,  21 

Gomez,  Estevan,  voyage  of,  7 

Gordon,  the  Revd  Patrick,  5 

Governor's  Island,  66 

Gowanus,  uncertain  etymology 
of,  65 

Grace  Church,  Jamaica,  212 

Grain,  exportation  of,  139,  328 

Gravesend,  naming  of,  lo8  ;  pat- 
ent of,  109  ;  Indian  attack 
upon,  no  :  theological  bias  in, 
112;  dispute  with  Stuyvesant, 
112  ;  English  invasion  of,  113  ; 
raises  the  English  flag,  278 

Great  South  Beach,  26 

Greene,  Gen.  Nathaniel,  at 
Brooklyn,  388 

Ground-nuts,  importance  of,  63 

H 

Hallett's  Cove,  18 

Halve  Maen,  '  T,  enters  Lower 
Bay,  4  ;  winters  at  Dartmouth, 
5  ;  sent  to  the  River  of  Moun- 
tains, 6 

Harbour  Hill,  28 

Hartford,  the.  Treaty,  269,  27c  ; 
English  towns  appeal  to,  283 

Hastings,  Declaration  of,  169 

Heard,  Col.,  on  Long  Island, 
363,  367 

Hedges  in  Suffolk  County,  28 

Heemstede,  30,  38 

Helle-gat  named,  8  ;  dangers 
of,  8 

Hempstead,  first  settlement  in 
bounds  of,  117  ;  name  of,  128  ; 
patent  to  Stamford  men,  131  ; 
division  of  land,  131  ;  Town 
Books  of,  140  ;  first  Meeting- 
house, 148  ;  independent  min- 
isters, 149  ;  village  graveyard, 
150  ;  social  conditions  in,  159  ; 
division  of  the  town,  160  ;  ap- 


INDEX. 


543 


peal  to  Amsterdam,  272; 
Meeting,  the,  289;  Conven- 
tion, the,  300  ;  Resolutions  of, 
311 ;  suffering  from  military 
occupation,  432 

Hempstead  Harbour,  128,  130 

Hempstead  Plains,  19 

Heretics  prosecuted,  236 

Hessian  fly,  the,  185 

Hewlett,  Richard,  327,  374,  378, 
431,  438 

Hickey  Plot,  the,  377 

Hicks,  Elias,  196 

Hicks,  Whitehead,  380  ;  arrange- 
ment of,  449 

Highway,  the  King's,  87  ;  lay- 
ing out  of,  146 

Hollows,  the,  135 

Horse-racing,  234,  432 

Howe,  Daniel,  120,  122,  124 

Howe,  Lord  Richard,  Declara- 
tion of,  390  ;  neglect  of  oppor- 
tunity by,  402 

Howe,  Gen.  William,  Proclama- 
tion of,  391 :  inaction  of,  400  ; 
judgments  on,  411,  412,  414 

Howe's  Bay,  121 

Hubbard,  James,  104,  112,  278 

Hubbard,  the  Revd  John,  204 

Hudson,    Hendrick,  voyage   of, 

4  ;  estimate  of  the  country  by, 

5  ;  detention  in  England,  5 
Hudson  River,  names  of  the,  6 
Humming  birds,  speculations  on, 

39 

Huntington,  purchased  by  Eaton, 
251  ;  settlement  of,  251  ;  an- 
nexed to  New  Haven,  252  ; 
the  Town-Spot,  253  ;  right  in 
drift-whales,  253  ;  ministers 
of,  254  ;  Town  Books  of,  254  ; 
origin  of  names,  254  ;  suffers 
in  the  Revolution,  436 

Huntting,  the  Rev?  Nathaniel, 
248 

Huys  van  Hoop  seized,  271 

I 

Independence  not  an  original 
object  of  the  Revolution,  342 


Independents,  settle  Jamaica, 
201  ;  claim  to  precedence,  202  ; 
meeting-house  built,  203 

Indians,  the,  character  of,  46, 
55  ;  distribution  of,  48-50  ; 
fortifications  by,  49  ;  dealings 
with  the,  51-53  ;  extermination 
planned,  55  ;  conference  at 
Rockaway,  165  ;  final  condi- 
tion of ,  335 

Inn,  license  for  keeping  an,  146 

Isle  Plowden,  15 

Islip  established,  223 


Jamaica,  founding  of,  197  ;  as 
shire-town,i99;  early  ministers 
in,  204  ;  quarrel  over  church 
property,  206  ;  Town  Burying- 
ground,  213  ;  Resolutions  of, 
347;  ,the  Election  at,  355; 
occupied  by  British  troops,  431 

James,  the  Revd  Thomas,  248 

Jay,  John,  342,  358,  453 

Jealousy  betweeh-New  England,, 
and  New  York,  299"  ~ ";_;L. 

Jenney,  the  Revd   Robert,  154 

Jericho,  settlement  of^igG 

Jericho  Turnpike,  87 

Jones,  Major  Thomas,  195  ; 
quoted,    364,    368,    414,    420, 

423,  43i>  435,  440.  441,  445, 
449  ;  arrest  of,  383  ;  third  im- 
prisonment of,  442  ;  attainder 
of,  449 

Josselyn,  John,  Gentleman,  ob- 
servations on  America,  12,  42 

Juett,  Robert,  Log-book  of,  4 

K 

Kalm,  Peter,  quoted,  20 
Keith,  the  Revd  George,  151 
Kemble,  Lieut. -Col.,  account  of 

Battle  of  Brooklyn  by,  410 
Kermiss,  a  yearly,  84 
Kidd,  gold  buried  by,  26 
Kidd's  Rock,  21 
Kieft,  Willem,   surveys  of,  34  ; 


544 


INDEX. 


relations  with  the  Indians,  53  ; 
land  purchased  by,  77,  8g, 
104,  116  ;  Patent  to,  130 

Kings  County,  Dutch  influence 
in,  77  ;  first  Court-house,  99  ; 
census  of,  103  ;  New  York 
Convention  against,  383  ;  ad- 
dresses Lord  Howe,  424  ;  tes- 
tifies allegiance,  425 

Kingston,  Canada,  settled  by 
Loyalists,  492 

Kissam,  Benjamin,  intercedes 
with  Provincial  Congress,  382 


I^abadists,  the,  43,  90 

Landt-tags  at  Nieuw  Amster- 
dam, 272,  273,  284,  290 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  quoted,  343 

Lee,  Gen.  Charles,  character, 
361  ;  letters  quoted,  361,  372, 
373.  376 

Legislature,  first  Colonial,  of 
New  York,  318 

Legislature  of  New  York  against 
the  Loyalists,  452,  469 

Leisler,  Jacob,  government  of, 
323,  324 

Lenni  Lenapi,  the,  45 

Liberty,  religious,  on  Long  Isl- 
and, 336 

Linne  men,  the,  117 

Lloyd's  Neck,  25,  191,  253  ; 
Fort  Franklin,  435  ;  occupied 
by  Associated  Loyalists,  435 

Long  Island,  first  mention  of, 
I  ;  proved  an  island,  9  ;  grant 
to  Plowden,  15  ;  advertised 
for  sale,  1 7 ;  geological  forma- 
tion of,  18-23  ;  coast  line  of, 
25  ;  necks  of,  27  ;  forest  roads 
of,  29  ;  many  names  of,  72  ; 
impetus  to  settlement  of,  79  ; 
granted  to  Gorges,  170  :  Eng- 
lish claims  to,  221  ;  English 
intrusion  on,  262  ;  effect  of 
English  polity  on,  263  ;  dis- 
content of  the  inhabitants, 
272 ;     mortgaged  by    Farret, 


281  ;  annexed  to  Connecticut, 

282  ;  reconquered  by  the 
Dutch,  308  ;  part  in  the  French 
and  Indian  Wars,  327  ;  the 
granary  of  the  Colonies,  328  ; 
distribution  of  population, 
329  ;  social  condition  of,  333  ; 
the  mother-hive,  336  ;  slavery 
on,  337  ;  suffering  on,  during 
the  Revolution,  339  ;  opposed 
sentiment  of  the  East  and  the 
West,  370 ;  in  possession  of 
the  British,  413  ;  devastation 
by  the  British  army,  419-434  ; 
the  army  removed  from,  455  ; 
expatriation  of  citizens,  488- 

497 
Long  Island  Sound,  first  passage 
through,  8  ;   Dermer's  voyage 
through,    8;    depth   of,    18; 
names  of,  72 
Lottery  scheme  for  a  church,  85 
Loyalists,      the,      conscientious 
scruples    of,    246 ;    misrepre- 
sentation  of,   347  ;   disarming 
of,  354,  363 ;  persecution  of, 
374 ;  imprisoned  in  Connecti- 
cut, 383  ;   after  the  war,  473- 
487  ;    two    classes    of,    475  ; 
regiments  of,  477 ;   Board  of 
Associated,    478  ;    appeal    to 
Carleton,  478  ;  slighted  in  Lon- 
don, 486 ;   sentiment  toward, 
in  the  United  States,  487  ;  re- 
moved to  Nova  Scotia,  488  ; 
provision  made  by  England, 
489  ;    number    of,   489  ;    the 
United  Empire  of,  492 
Ludlow,  Gabriel,  439,  495 
Ludlow,  George  Duncan,   440, 
449 

M 

Madison,  James,  quoted,  342 
Maltese  cats,    introduction    of, 

237 
Manetta  Hill,  legend  of,  23 
Manhattan,  etymology  of,  47 
Manisees,  discovery  of,  3 


INDEX. 


545 


Maps  ,  early  :  MaijoUa,  3  ;  Ri- 
biera,  3  ;  De  Laet,  3  ;  Hiero- 
nimo  da  Verrazano,  3,  33  ; 
Figurative  Map,  9,  32  ;  Cham- 
plain,  32 ;  Jacobsen,  32  ; 
Chauves,  33  ;  Vander  Donck, 
33  ;  Capt.  John  Smith's  esti-' 
mate  of,  33 
Market  Slip,  the  landing  at,  493 
Martial  law  on    Long    Island, 

450 
Massepequa   Swamp,   refuge  of 

the  Loyalists,  375 
Matouwacks,  32,  35,  46 
Megapolensis,  Domine,  96,  113 
Mennonists,  The,  112,  172 
Mespat,  38  ;  Indian  massacre  at, 
54,    164 ;   English   settlement 
of,  163 
Mespat  Kills,  162 
Methodism,  early,  158,  173 
Mey,   Cornelis  Jacobsen,    7,  8, 

80 
Middelburgh  named,  166,  169 
Midwout,  planting  of,  95  ;  first 

church  of,  95 
Migration,    spirit    of,    266  ;    to 
New  Jersey,  289  ;  to  Dutchess 
County,  337 
Militia    of    the  Eastern   Towns 

organised,  371 
Millstone  Rock,  21 
Minuit,  Peter,  17 
Mitchell,  Samuel  Latham,  67 
Montanus,  Arnoldes,  quoted,  41 
Montauk,  etymology  of.  49 
Montauk  Indians,  47;   petition 

of,  56 
Montauk  Point,  26,  73 
Moody,  Deborah,  Lady,  Patent 
to,   104-105  ;     banished  from 
Salem,   106  ;  library  of,  107  ; 
political    influence    of,    iii  ; 
death  of,  112 
Moore,    the    Rev?    John,    134, 

139-  171  ^ 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  on  Queens 

County,  382 
Mount  Misery,  68 
Mulford,  Samuel,  246-248 


Muscheda    Cove,     record,    62 ; 
settlement  at,  194 

N 

Names,    autochthbnic,    61  ;   sig- 
nificance'li£,.j6i ;   Indian,  i>y\ 


NarraganseSSay;^  3'=*'  visited  by 
'  Block,  9 
•  NafioSirs,    The,   Verrazano    ap- 
;,    preaches,   2  ;  Hudson  enters, 

4  ;  purchase  of  land  at,  90 
Nassau  named,  326 
Navigation  Act,  the,  281 
Neapogue  Beach,  26 
Netherlands,  status  of  the,  264 
New  Albion,  14 
New  Brunswick,    Province    of, 

organised,  495 
New  England  arms  against  New 

Netherland,  276 
New  Lots,  66 

Newmarket  race  course,  19,  139 
New  Orange,  308 
Newspaper,  the  first,  273 
Newtown,    settlement   of,    166  ; 

Indian  Rate  of,   167  ;  patent 

given,    171  ;    Resolutions  of, 

347 

Newtown  pippin,  the,  44,  171 

New  York,  anomalous  govern- 
ment of,  298  ;  becomes  New 
Orange,  308  ;  first  assembly 
of,  318  ;  Provincial  Congress 
of,  352-360,  363-366,  373>  380. 
383  ;  Convention  of,  383  ; 
Legislature  of,  452,  469 

Nicholson,  Francis,  321 

NicoU  family,  the,  259 

NicoU,  Col.  Richard,  19,  113  ; 
fleet  of,  294 ;  landing  at 
Gravesend,  295  ;  as  Governor 
of  New  York,  299-305 

Nieuw  Amersfoordt,  settlement 
of,  88  ;  struggle  of  the  name, 
88 ;  fertility  of,  89 ;  first 
church  of,  89 

Nieuw    Amsterdam     contempc- 


546 


INDEX. 


raneous  with  Long  Island  set- 
tlement, 17 

Nieuw  Nederlandt  named,  10  ; 
armorial  bearings  of,  11  ; 
made  a  province,  13  ;  surveys 
by  Kieft,  34  ;  the  pearl  of, 
go ;  English  encroachments 
on,  280  ;  given  up,  295  ;  Eng- 
lish responsibility  for  the  seiz- 
ure, 296 

Nieuw  Utrecht,  founding  of,  gi  ; 
incorporation  of  93  ;  records 
of,  93  ;  first  church  of,  94  ; 
invasion  of,  by  Scott,  g4 

Norman's  Kill,  the  loi 

North  Sea,  settlement  at,  224 

North  Side,  the,  19 

Nova  Scotia,  destination  of  the 
Loyalists,  488 

Nyack  Bay,  90 

O 

Oakley's  High  Hill-field,  28 

Occum,  Sampson,  57 

Ogilby,  John,  voyage  of,  12 

Onderdonk,  Henry,  140 

Onderdonk,  Peter,  Note-book 
of,  421 

Onrust, '  T,  building  of,  7  ;  voy- 
age of,  7 

Oranjen  Boven,  'T',  17 

Orient  Point,  27 

Oswald,  Richard,  457 

Otis,  James,  quoted,  342 

Oyster  Bay,  Van  Tienhoven's 
description  of,  186 ;  land 
purchase  by  Farret,  187  ;  dis- 
puted location  of,  188  ;  Eng- 
lish settlement  of ,  i8g  ;  bound- 
ary disputes  in,  190 ;  Town 
Meeting  of,  351 

Oysters,  38,  43,  186 


Pacific  Ocean,  passage  to,  2,  4 
Paine,    Thomas,    quoted,    341, 

346 
Palatinate  of  New  Albion,  14 


Parrtown  settled,  4g4 

Patents,  renewal  of,  required, 
321 

Paumanacke,  etymology  of,  46 

Payne,  John  Howard,  birthplace 
of,  24g 

Peace,  negotiations  for,  456- 
472  ;  commissioners  for,  456, 
457 ;  American  conditions  of 
a,  457  ;  final  compromise,  461 

Pennawitz,  55,  121,  134 

Pequots,  character  of,  47  ;  vas- 
salage to,  47  ;  tribute  paid  to, 
48  ;  Relation  of  the.  War,  219 

Peters,  James,  488 

Peters,  Valentine  Hewlett,  160, 

351 

Pharaohs,  last  of  the,  58 

Pierson,  the  Rev?  Abraham, 
225,  22g 

Pilgrims,  proposition  to  the,  76 

Piracy,  271  ;  authorised,  332 

Plain  Edge,  the,  ig 

Plantagenet,  Beauchamp,  13 

Plowden,  Sir  Edmund,  13,  14 

Plum  Island,  26,  223 

Polhemus,  Domine,  96 

Polity,  effect  of  English,  263 

Port  Roseway,  first  destination 
of  the  Loyalists,  488 ,  re- 
named, Shelburne,  490 

Post  route  established,  385  ;  fur- 
ther facilities  desired,  331 

Potter's  clay,  22 

Poyer,  the  Rev?  Thomas,  207  ; 
sermons  and  register  of,  209 

Presbyterian  preachers  arrested, 
172 

Presbyterians  first  in  Hempstead, 
149,  202 

Prime,  the  Rev?  Ebenezer,  436 

Prince's  Nurseries,  184 

Prohibition  law,  an  early,  52 

Prohibitory  Act,  the,  444 

Putnam,  Israel,  388 

Putnam,  Rufus,  386 


Quakers  welcomed  at  Gravesend, 
113  ;    expelled    from    Hemp- 


INDEX. 


547 


stead,  145  ;  persecuted  in 
Flushing,  176 ;  informed 
against  and  "wearied  out," 
266 
Queen  Anne,  gifts  of,  155,  205 
Queens  County,  named,  116  ; 
settlement  of,  117,  123  ;  new 
Court-house,  161  ;  "  Booke  of 
Enterys "  for,  200  ;  suffering 
in,  during  the  Revolution, 
339  ;  Tories  of,  356  ;  Heard's 
raid  in,  364  ;  suspected  per- 
sons in,  379  ;  action  of  Com- 
mittee of,  381  ;  addresses 
Gov.  Tryon,  423  ;  addresses 
Gen.  Robertson,  451 
Queen's  Rangers,  the,  442,  444, 

445 

Queen's  Village,  the  Manor  of, 
191 

Quit-rents,  77  ;  evasion  of  pay- 
ment of,  147 


Rapalje,  Joris  de,  81  ;  Sarah  de, 
82 

Refugees  address  New  York 
Committee  of  Safety,  441 

Refugees'  House,  433 

Rippowam  settled  from  Wethers- 
field,  125 

Rockaway,   Indian  treaty  made 

at,#55,  165 
Rockaway  Inlet,  4 
Ronkonkoma,  Lake,  24 
Rubell,  Johannes  Casperus,  97 
Rycken,  Abraham,  receives  first 

recorded  deed,  82 


Sabbath,  contempt  of  the,  142 
Sagabonack,  63  ,     ,   , 

Sag  Harbour,  63  ;   attacked  by 

Meigs,  439 
Saint  George's  Church,  consecra- 
tion of,  154  ;  charter  of,  156 
Saint  John,  harbour  of,  493  ;  a 
distnbuting  point,  493 


Saint   John   River,   a  highway, 

495 

Salisbury  Plains,  139 

Salt  Meadow,  24 

Saltonstall,  Sir  Richard,  124 

Salt  works  on  Coney  Island,  114 

Sands,  Capt.  John,  69 

Sandy  Hook,  Verrazano  passes,  2 

Schools,  early  :  Brooklyn,  86  ; 
Flatbush,  98  ;  Hempstead, 
147  ;  Southampton,  230;  East- 
hampton,    249  ;    Huntington, 

253 
Schoonwalle,  Sieur  de,  4 
Scott,  Capt.  John,  invades  Neuw 

Utrecht,  94  ;  invited  to  Long 

Island,  280  ;  agreement  with 

Stuyvesant,  2B6 
Seabury,  the  Rev^  Samuel,  Jun., 

157  ;  consecrated  Bishop,  157  ; 

at  Jamaica,  21 1,  488 
Seaman,  Capt.  John,  146 
Searington  Church,  158 
Sears,  Isaac,  357  ;  test  oath  of, 

374 
Seawanhacky,  46 
Selwyns,  Domine  Hendricus,  84 
Setauket  besieged  by  Parsons,  438 
Setauket  South,  61 
Sheep-parting,  The,  138 
Shelburne,    Lord,    true    to    the 

Loyalists,  457-460;  excuses  the 

Treaty  of  Peace,  465 
Shelburne    settled,    490 ;    aban- 

boned,  491 
Shingled  houses,  29 
Shinnecock  Hills,  27 
Shinnecock  Reservation,  58 
Sille,  Nicasius  de,  91,  168 
Silliman,  General,  exchange  of, 

443 
Simcoe,   John   Graves,   Military 

Journal  of,  442-446 
Simsbury  dungeons,  the,  369 
Sinks,  33 
bmallwood.    Colonel,    Maryland 

regiment  of,  397 
Smith,  Goldwin,  quoted,  495 
Smith,  Captain  John,  quoted,  33, 

76.  337 


548 


INDEX. 


Smith,  John,  of  Mespat,  163, 165 

Smith,  John,  Rock,  143 

Smith,  Richard,  the  Bull-rider, 
61,  261 

Smith,  Richard  of  Taunton,  164 

Smith,  Tangiers-,  259 

Smuggling,  196 

Southampton,  planting  of,  122, 
224 ;  laws  of,  226  ;  entries  in 
Town  Books  of,  227  ;  appeals 
to  Connecticut,  229 ;  first 
Meeting-house,  229  ;  ' '  valu- 
acon"  of,  230  ;  remonstrance, 
the,  305 

South  Haven,  61 

South  Hold,  the,  234 

Southold,  Meeting-house,  234;- 
attachment  to  Connecticut,  237 

South  Side,  the,  19 

Speech,  regulation  of,  236 

Springs,  abundance  of,  23 

Stamford,  settlement  of,  125  ; 
records  of,  126  ;  migration 
from,  127 

Steendam,  Jacob,  8g 

Steenwyck,  Cornells  van,  defied 
at  Southold,  311 

Stepping  Stones,  legend  of  the, 
21 

Sterling,  Earl  of,  15  ;  grant  of 
Nova  Scotia  to,  118-120 

Sterling,  William  Alexander, 
Lord,  376  ;  appointment  as 
General,  376  ;  at  Battle  of 
Brooklyn,  396 ;  captured,  399 

Strachey's  efforts  for  the  Loyal- 
ists, 460 

Strickland  Plain,  battle  of,  134 

Stuyvesant,  Pieter,  relations  with 
Indians,  of,  55  ;  lays  out  Bush- 
wick,  loi  ;  last  letters  to  The 
Hague,  291  ;  to  the  West  India 
Company,  297  ;  character,  297; 
tomb  of,  298 

Success  Pond,  63 

Suffolk  County,  manorial  grants 
of,  223;  first  Court-house,  238  ; 
population  of,  239  ;  suffering 
of,  during  the  Revolution, 
346,  446 


Surinam  in  exchange  for  Nieuw 

Nederlandt,  314 
Sylvester,  Grizzel,  legacy  to,  igi 


Tallmadge,  Colonel  Benjamin, 
raid  of,  439 

Taxation  without  representation, 
resisted  by  Easthampton,  244 

Thomas,  the  Rev?  John,  induc- 
tion of,  151  ;  letters  of,  153 

Thompson,  Colonel  Benjamin, 
Count  Rumford,  437,  488 

Thorwold,  voyage  of,  i 

Tories,  denunciation  of,  357  ;  in 
Massepequa  Swamp,  376  ; 
General  Greene's  list   of,  384 

Tory,  application  of  the  name  of, 
344  ;  Act,  358 

Town  Books  of  Hempstead,  140 

Towns,  the  English,  jealousies 
of  the,  264 

Towns,  the  Five  Dutch,  organisa- 
tion of,  78  ;  census  of  the,  103 

Treaty,  the  Definitive,  462  ; 
Articles  IV.,  V.,  VI.,  462; 
Article  V.  condemned  by  Par- 
liament, 462  ;  presented  to 
New  York  Legislature,  466 

Treaty  of  Westminster,  248,  314 

Treaty  of  Westphalia,  279 

Trees,  notable,  29,  100 

Trespass  Act,  the,  468 

Tryon,  Governor,  letters  to 
Lord  Germaine,  426-429 

Tuckerstown,  78 

U 

Underbill,  John,  quoted,  37  ; 
defeats  the  Massepequas,  49  ; 
defeats  the  Canarsies,  55  ;  in 
Flushing,  174  ;  buys  Martine- 
cock,  igi  ;  career  in  Boston, 
193  ;  Governor  of  Exeter  and 
Dover,  193  ;  High  Sheriff  of 
the  North  Riding,  193  ;  excites 
revolt  at  Hempstead,  271 


INDEX. 


549 


United  Netherlands,  Indepen- 
dence of,  acknowledged,  4 

United  Netherlands  Company, 
charter  of  the,  10 

Urquehart,  the  Rev?  William, 
206 

Usselincx,  Willem,  11 


Van  Corlear,  Jacobus,  81 
Van  Dam,  Rip,  rents  ferry,  83 
Van  der  Donck,  Adriaen,  38 
Van  der  Hyl,  Jan,  55,  193 
Van  Eckelen,  Johannes,  g8 
Van  Schaack,  Peter,  412 
Van  Tienhoven,  Cornells,  26,  38, 

128,  271 
Van  Twiller,  Wouter,  as  agricul- 
turist, 8g 
Varlo,  the  Rev?  Charles,  claims 

of  the,  1 6 
Verrazano,  letter  of,  i,  114 
Verse-makers  of  Nieuw  Neder- 

landt,  89,  gr 
Vine-culture,  monopoly  of,  144 
Vlackte-Bosch,  94 
Vlissingen,  38 

W 

Wainscott,  62 

Wallabout,  origin  of  name,  65  ; 

grant  of,  81 
Walloon  descent,  66 
Walloons,  settlement  by  the,  80 
Wampum,  46,   50,  51 


Watering-places,  public,  pro- 
tected, 146 

West  India  Company,  privileges 
of,  10  ;  organisation  of,  11  ; 
monopoly  ended,  77  ;  protec- 
tion of  the  Walloons  by,  80;; 
tolerant  spirit  of  the,  178,  265  ; 
,  responsibility  of,  288 

West  Riding,   the,   protests  of,  *■ 
305 

Whaleboaters,  322,  440 

Whale  fishery,  331-333 

Wight,  Isle  of,  220,  223 

Willet,  Colonel  Marinus,  357 

Williams,  Roger,  54 

Wilmot,  Free.love  Townsend, 
204 

Winthrop,  Jun.,  John,  visits 
Hempstead,  292  ;  writes  to 
New  Orange,  313 

Witchcraft,  trial  for,  256 

Wolley,  the  Rev?  Charles,  8,  82 

Wolverhampton  Hollow,  67 

Wolves,  bounty  on,  141 

Wood,  William,  quoted,  39,  50 

WoodhuU,  General  Nathaniel, 
327  ;   capture    and   death  of, 

405 
Woodyards  established,  448 
Wyandanch,  53,  56,  219 


Yennicock,  purchase  of,  234 
Yorkshire,  officers  of,  303  ;  di- 
vided into  counties,  320 
Youngs,  the  Rev?  John,  234 
Ziekentrooster,  '2",  85